SKETCHES 

WOOD COUNTY: 

ITS 

EARLY HISTORY; 

As embraced in and connected with other 

Counties of West Virginia. 

ALS(» 

Briet accounts of 

FIRST SETTLERS; 

AND THEIR DESCENDANTS. 
Including accounts of its 

Soils, Timber, Minerals, Water, 

AND 

MATERIAL WEALTH. 

in 

S. C. SHAW. 

I\irt First. Price 50 Cents. 



(JKOUrrE ELLETSON. Pibi.ishkk. 
Parkershnr^^. W. Va. 



SKETCHES 

W0^D><:](5,UNTY: 

^ARL^^-HlSJTORY; 

As embraced in and connected with other 

Counties of West Virginia. 

ALSO 

Brief accounts of 

FIRST SETTLERS; 

AND THEIR DESCENDANTS. 



Including accounts of its 



Soils, Timber, Minerals, Water, 



MATERIAL AVEALTH 

S^C.'^SHAW. ^ 



Part First, Price 50 Cents. 



PAKKEKSBUKG, WEST V.\.: 
George Elletson, Job Printer, Court Square. 

1.S7S. 



7r 



.VIzSs- 





Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year li'T^, 

BY 

S. C. SHAW, 
In the Clerk's OflSce of the Librarian of Congress, Washington. D. C. 



PREFACE. 



Forty-six years ago, the author of these Sketches, then a young 
man, became a permanent citizen of the town of Parkersburg, in 
Wood county, Virginia. At that time, Parkersburg, the seat of jus- 
tice in the county, was a small town on the southern banks ot the 
Ohio river, above antl adjoining the Little Kanawha, and contained a 
j)opulation of al>out two hundred inhabitants Up to that time and 
after, the territory of Wood county had remained the same as when 
the county was first organized ; embracing an area of about fourteen 
liundred square miles, and contained a population of between six 
and seven thousand inhabitants. 

Since tliat date, by the formation of new counties from the origi- 
nal territory of Wood, the area of the county has been greatl}" les- 
sened, and now contains only about one-fourth of its original boun- 
daries, and yet such has been the increase of its population, that it 
now contains upwards of twenty thousand itdiabitants. He might 
here add that the territory which has been taken off, in the formation 
of new counties, has probably increased in population and material 
wealth, in like proportion. This permanent increase of inhabitants 
and wealth, speaks volumes for the social and commercial advantages 
ot our. new State. It carries upon its face the evidences of affluence, 
prosperity and social happiness. 

Changing the form of expression from the past tense, to the present, 
we will say, that during the first seven years of our citizenship m Par- 
kersburg, we were employed and performed the duties of Clerk of the 
County Court of Wood county; and for several years was Deputy, under 
the late Jajnes II.XeaKEsq., Clerk of its Circuit Superior Court. Be- 
tween the years of 1845 and 1855, for seven years, we held the office and 
personally perf(M-med all the duties of Assessor and Commissioner of 
the county. Also during those years, as Surveyor, we became well 
acquainted with the lands of the county, in their various localities. 

llaving closely and carefully stu<lied and improved these sources 



of iiiibrmation, arising from these several positions occupied by us, 
r>Q became familiar with the history of the county, its early settle- 
ments, and many ot its hardy, bold and enterprising inliabitants. 
Also we acquired a general knowledge of its lands, waters, water- 
courses, soil, productions and natural advantages. The diversified 
scenery of its mountain slopes and valleys, with its salubrious cli- 
mate, and health-restoring and invigorating agencies, being such as 
to add to the length of our years, we have taken pleasure in penning 
these sketches, and thus complying with the oft-expressed wishes of 
personal friends, by presenting them to the public. They are the re- 
sults of many hours of reflection, toil and research, and have been 
revised and corrected from a series we published in the Parkersburg 
Sentinel. 

In conclusion, permit us to say, that in the opening paragraph 
above, we referred to our forty-six years of residence in Parkersburg. 
At its commencement, that length of time then appeared long, yet it 
has been past. Now, in the review, it appears but a step. Yet along 
the way we have had sunshine and shadows — hours of pleasure and 
pain — broken shrines of affection and love are in dust and ashes at 
our feet — footprints upon the sands of time have been made and 
washed away — mounds covered with the green grass have been mois- 
tened with tears, covering forms that cannot be effaced from the tab- 
let of memory. In penning these pages, we have labored to bring 
back, and converge some of the rays of sunshine and joy, which 
once illuminated our pathway, and gave hope and happiness — to call 
back the associations of other years, and other friends, and perpetuate 
their memories. 

Should this effort prove successful, and be appreciated by our citi- 
zens, we huve the materials on hand for their continuance — materials 
which have not yet been published, in addition to those which have 
ajipeared, which we desire to revise. If errors arc made to appear 
in any of these pages, we will take pleasure in correcting them, when 
I'ointed out. Our object being, to present facts, as they are interwo- 
ven with the early settlers of the county. Much has been omitted, 
owing to the uncertainty enshrouding the past. With these thoughts 
and anxieties, we submit these pages to the consideration of the pub- 
lic. 

S. C. SHAW. 

Leafy Glen, W. Va. 



WEST VIRGINIA. 



OXIA-FTEIK. I. 



INTROEUCTION. 

The bold, hardy and venturesome pioneers who first emigrate and take 
possession of a country, and with labor, toil and privations, put forth 
strong and unwearied efforts to clear away the heavy primeval forests, 
and subdue the soil to cultivation, should be held in remembrance in the 
history of that country. Especially should that be the case when the 
multiplied incidents, scenes, adventures and sufferings connected with 
their history are fading and disappearing in the dim shadows and back- 
ground of the past. 

It is at such a time that these varied incidents ought naturally to be- 
come deeply interesting to the generations that follow — those who thus 
enjoy the rewards of their ancestors' adventurous toil. And yet how 
often it is the case that but a few of those early adventurers leave their 
names, or a posterity behind them to record their doings — their feats of 
daring and courage — their adventures and toils — their privations and 
sufferings. 

Time, in its ever onward flight, soon leaves the present in the past and 
the past is soon lost in forgetfulness. One generation passeth away and 
another cometh and is soon gone — gone from the present to make room 
for tiie myriads who are crowding the earth in its onward course of years. 
l>ut a few, only a few, of the teeming multitudes — the countless millions 
of all the vast generations of the past, havepermanantly fixed their names, 
and caused them to stand out upon the records of time, or left a memen- 
to of the stirring events which were numbered in their generation. 

Ere the history of the early settlements made in our county, with the 
changes of its name, as connected with the ^^tate, as also the names of 
the prominent actors, together with such reflections as may arise in our 
mind, will claim the attention of these Chapters, made up from such 
scanty materials as wo can now command. 



b EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS, 

But in doing so, we nre fully aware that many of those early settlers — 
those first pioneers to the county, whose active energies were here spent, 
and whose genial smiles and social bearings once gladdened the hearts 
of many are gone, leaving no records of themselves among the living. 
^Owing to these causes our sketches will be imperfect and incomplete, and 
will lose much of their interest, whicli might otherwise be interwoven iu 
our early history as a county. 

The reader in forming a correct idea of the difficulties and dangers 
attending the first settlements of Western and Xorthwestern Virginia, 
along the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains and on to the Ohio river, it 
will become necessary for him to go far back in the history of Virginia, 
to its collonial records, and from thence to trace the slow, toilsome move- 
ments Westward amid the difficulties and dangers which then environed 
her surroundings. 

Again, for the purpose of obtaining a clear and good understanding, 
and forming correct ideas of the trials and conflicts attending the early 
settlements made in this then far western country, it will be necessary to 
have a knowledge of the character and inlluetices brought to bear upon 
the aboriginees then inhabiting the great Northwestern territory, as then 
connected with the policy of those Nations of Europe who were seeking 
to establish and maintain their claims and authority in these Colonies, as 
the rightful owners of the soil, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- 
ries. 

Three of those great powers — viz : England, France and Spain, were 
contending for and claiming by right of discovery, large parts and por- 
tions of this Western Continent, and were constantly at variance with 
each other, as to their rights and boundaries. Hence, was inaugurated 
by two of those powers — viz.: France and England — what has been 
here known in history, as the French War, between the years 1750 and 
17<i5. This war between the French and English governments was 
mainly confined to, and carried on in the colonies of this country, as then 
claimed by each of them. In the prosecution of this war, the French 
government formed alliances with the numerous Indian tribes, then in- 
habiting the great Northwestern territory. 

By its promises of protection and rewards, that (Tovernment enlisted 
these tribes of the forests to enfir:iiIo in their barbarous methods of cruel- 
ty and blood upon the frontier settlements of those colonies. These 
atrocious alliances were formed and perfected through their agents and 
emissaries, at that time extensively engaged in commercial transactions, 
as connected with the fur trade with these Indians. 

Hence may be traced much of the hostility of the Indians, and the 
reason for their cruel and relentless course. Much of the horrors of 
tlieir mode of warfare may be and is justly chargeable upon the French 
government, during these years of untold sufferings. 

It is a well known and established fact that the disposition and gener- 
al character of the Indian was far more amicable and reliable when the 



ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN. 7 

country was first discovered by the Europeans, than it now is, or has 
been since. lie then was in possession of more noble and generous and 
worthy qualities of mind and heart, thereby molding his character more 
in accordance with the great moral principles of reliance, truih and jus- 
tice. 

These thoughts and considerations open a wide field for reflection 
and should be improved by every American citizen. The law- 
making power of our General Government, in all its dealings with 
the Indians, should carefully consider their relations to this country, 
and then act with impartial justice. 

Again, during the dangers and struggles of the l\evolutionary 
War, in which the thirteen colonies of this country contended with 
Great Britain for their independence, similar alliances were formed 
liy that Government, through their agents, with these Indian tribes, 
at and immediately anterior to 177G, which lasted during the contin- 
uance of that bloody conflict. And again, in the war with that Gov- 
ernmen.t in 1812-15, tiie same inhuman policy was ado[ited by that 
Government, in enlisting these savage tribes in the work ot barbar- 
ism, cruelty and death. Hence, as we have before said, much ot the 
hostility and cruelty of the Indians, iu their savage and sickening 
mode ot warfare, is justly chargeable upon those enlightened nations 
of Europe, and for which they should be held accountable by the 
historian in all time to come. 

From these considerations and others which might be given, it 
must be apparent to the mind of the reader that the cruel hostility 
of these tribes — these denizens of the forest — towards the citizens of 
tliese colonies, in their raids for plunder — for taking into captivity 
men, women and children, and tor their cruel and bloody acts of 
l)arbarism upon the first settlements made in the great Mississippi 
\'alley antl its numerous tributaries, are chargeable upon those en- 
lightened Governments of the Old World. 

Consequently, as we have before said, in making up and reviewing 
the history of those years of darkness and sutierings we have felt 
and still feel, thut nmch of the sin and sorrows visited u[ioii those 
early pioneers, will not and should not rest upon the " poor Indian." 

It is undoubtedly true that in feeling and disposition for protecting 
themselves and their posterity in their territorial hunting grounds, 
they felt, and to some considl'rable extent carried out, their feelings 
of Jiatred and aversion, but these had become greatly intensified and 
made cruel and relentless by those emissaries then acting under the 
(hrection of these foreign Governments. Consequently, as we have 
already said, it well becomes the historian, in writing of these 
early times, and the records of those years ot bloody and iniuiman 
strife, he should not pass b^' and lose sight of these facts. They 
should be carefully considered and plead in extenuation of many of 
the inhuman barbarities of those years when these Indian tribes ot 



8 FRENCH WAR, REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

tlic forest went forth upon the war-path. In presentini^ these sum- 
mary skotclies of those times, we have, tlierefore, felt tlj.at we were 
called upon by the principles ot truth and justice to make this avowal 
for the "poor Indian,'' when speaking ot the early settlements of 
Western and Northwestern Virginia and their tragic memories. 

During the latter ^tart of the eighteenth century, owing to the 
active and controlling intluences made b}' these European Govern- 
ments, through their agents, then passing from one tort or station to 
another, extending from the Canadas and the Northern lakes to the 
Ohio river, which they then brought to bear upon these tribes, but 
few attempts w'cre made by the Government to colonize any parts or 
portions of this Western and Northwestern Virginia, and those then 
made were wholly insufficient for tlie protection of those who had 
sought homes in what was then known as the Far West. 



ch:a.i^te:e^ ii. 



THS FORMATION OF COUNTIES. 

In our introductory Chapter, we gave to the reader, summary state- 
ments of the nature and character of the various influences brought to 
bear upon the Indian tribes of the Northwestern territory, by the French 
and English governments, with our reflections thereon, as interwoven 
in and standing connected with the early settlements of the colony of Vir- 
ginia — its wilderness territory and subsequent history. 

This was done, not only in justice to those unlettered denizens of the 
forest, but for the purpose of placing the responsibilities and blame where 
they so justly belonged. Those great European governments then were 
included in the enlightened and civilized nations of the earth, whose so- 
cial and civil institutions were endowed with, and should have been guid- 
ed by the principles and precepts of the christian religion, as then 
connected with those governments. Hence we have held, and now hold 
them to the just responsibilities of their conduct and policy as enlighten- 
ed and christianized nations, and also for the results of their combined 
acts ; adopted, pursued and carried out by each of them individually as 
nations, in their efforts to support and maintain their assumed territo- 
rial claims. 

Having thus briefly referred to these historic facts, 80 painfully con- 
nected with the early settlements of Virginia, in her valleys and over 
her mountains, lying West and Northwest of the Blue Ridge, we now 
turn the attention of the reader to the divisions and sub-divisions of its 
territories and counties. 

At and prior to the Independence of the United States in 1776, the 
popular branch of Colonial legislation in Virginia, was known as the 
*'House of Burgesses." It enacted its laws under a provincial charter, 
granted by the English government, to whom its allegiance was due. 
The House of Burgesses by its enactments from time to time, laid off 
the wilderness territory into counties, as its increasing population ad- 



10 AUGUSTA, FREDERICK — DISTRICT OF WEST AUGUSTA. 

vanced their forest settlements westward beyond the mountains of the 
Blue Ridge. 

In 1738, the counties of Frederick and Augusts were formed by pre- 
scribed metes ami bounds, embracing a large territory of land west of 
the Blue Kidge mountains. All the vast ami wide spread wilderness 
territory, lying West and Northwest of those two counties, was then 
named and designated by the House of Burgesses, "The District of 
'A'eat Augusta," extending on the Northwest to the Ohio river, and 
West as far as the colonial territory extended. The lands now embrac- 
ed in the State of West Virginia, formed a portion of the territory, then 
known as the District of West Augusta. 

In 1754 the county of Hampshire was formed from parts of Frederick 
and Augusta counties. 

In 1770 the county of Botetourt was formed by a division of the 
county of Augusta. 

In 1772 the counties of Berkeley and Shenandoah were formed by 
sub-divisions of the county of Freilenck. 

In 1776 the counties of Ohio and Monongalia were formed out of the 
northwestern part of the District of West Augusta, and embraced the 
territory between the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania on the 
northeast and the Big Kanawha on the southwest, lying southeast of the 
Ohio river. Ohio county extending down the Ohio river, from L'ennsyl- 
vania to the mouth of Middle Island creek. Monongalia county lying 
southeast of Ohio county nnd extending below and down the Ohio river 
Irom the mouth of Middle Island creek to the valley of the Big Kan- 
awha river, and from thence northeast to the State of Maryland. 

In 1777 and 1778 Montgomery and Greenbrier counties were formed 
from the western and northwestern portion of the District of West Au- 
gusta, extending west of the Allegheny Mountains to Big Sandy river 
and down its valley and the valley of the Big Kanawha, to the Ohio 
river, which then formed the southwestern boundary of the county of 
Monongalia. 

In 17S4 the county of Monongalia was divideil, and the northwestern 
part was named Harrison, in honor of Benjamin Harrison, then Gover- 
nor of Virginia. This county then extended from its division line 
northwest to the Ohio river, and down the Ohio river to the valley of 
the Big Kanawha river, then embraced in Greenbrier county. During 
these years while the land in Western Virginia was embraced in the ter- 
ritory of Monongalia and Harrison counties, numerous large surveys of 
land were entered and patented by land speculators. These entries 
when surveyed, the lines of which intersected each other, causing much 
confusion in the titles of these lands. More of this anon. 

In 178t» the county of Kanawha was formed by a division ol Green- 
brier county, and embraced the beautiful valley of the Big Kanawha to 
the Ohio river. The territory of this county then embraced one of 
the richest portions of West Virginia. 



WOOD COUNTY — ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES, iC. 11 

By an Act of the Houfie of Burgesses in 17!'9, the county of Wood 
was set off by a division of the county of Harrison, and was named 
in honor ot Governor Wood, of Virginia. Its northeastern boundary 
line was Ohio county; its southeastern boundary was the line separa- 
ting it from the county of Harrison; its southwestern line was the 
county of Kanawha, and its northwestern boundary was the Ohio 
river. Its territor}' as then formed, contained about 1400 square 
miles. The Little Kanawha river, heading in the slopes ot the Alle- 
gheny Mountains and running nortliwest, joined tlie Ohio river at 
Parkerslmrg, dividing tlie county into nearly two e(iual parts. Ow- 
ing to conflicting interests of its settlers, the regular organization of 
the county did not take place until the 10th ot March, 1800. 

In 1804 Mason county was formed by a division of Kanawha coun- 
ty, taking in the valley of Big Kanawha to the Ohio river. For many 
years thereafter this count}- formed the southwestern boundary ot 
Wood county. 

In 1814 Tyler count} was formed by a division ot Ohio county; it 
was taken from its southwestern part, and became the northeastern 
boundary of Woj^d county. 

In 181(5 the county of Lewis was formed by another division made 
of Harrison county, and for many years was the southern boundary 
of Wood county. 

We have thus traced and defined the boundaries of Wo^d county, 
as it was first formed in 1799, and as it remaine<l up to the year 
1832. The reader will perceive that its territory was embraced in, an^i 
formed a part of that celebrated territory of Virginia, known and 
designated in the eighteenth century as the District of West Augus- 
ta from the year 1738 to the year 177G. From the year 1776 to the 
year 1784 it was included in the territory of Monongalia county; 
and from the year 1784 to the year ITJU it tortued the western part 
of Harrison county, and from that year to 1832 the territorial boun- 
dariea of the county remained unchanged. 

The tirst settlements made in any of the territory of this county 
was when it formed a part of Ilarrisiiii eonnty. Yet in all its vast 
territory such was the slow progress made in its settlement, that 
in the United States census taken in 1830 it contained only a popu- 
lation of 6,414 persons, and its taxation was f$4,257. There were va- 
rious causes which operated unfavorably to its rapid settlement and 
increase of population. Of these we may have more to say hereaft- 
er. But owing to these causes, one ot the most romantic, pictur- 
esque, healthy and invigorating portions of our common country, 
whose rich alluvial soils, abounding in vast beds of mineral wealth, 
numerous heavy veins of coal, forests of every variety of timber, and 
rivers and streams of water, and water power were passed l)y for 
years and left in their primeval solitude. 



12 NEW COUKTIES. 

Leaving all those adverse circumstancea and their consideration? 
for tlie present, we again return to the historical sketches of Wood 
county and its territory from the year 1832, down to the present time. 

By an act of the Legislature of Virginia in 1832. the county of Jack- 
eon was formed from the counties ot Wood and Mason. In the for- 
mation ot this county, about one-half of its territory was taken from 
each ot the above-named counties, taking from Wo^d all the lauds 
lying southwest of a line running from the mouth of Pond Creek, 
on the Ohio river, in a southerly direction to the northern boundary 
of Lewis county, Ripley, a pleasant settlement on Mill Creek, in a 
central portion of the territory, was made the county seat. This 
county embraces a tine body ot land for agricultural purposes, and is 
rich in mineral wealth and prospective affluence. Ravenswood, on 
the Ohio river, its emporium, is beautifully situated on an elevated 
plateau, with good pikes and roads extending to the back counties. 
A hopeful future awaits the enterprise of the citizens of this county. 

The northeastern portion of the present county of Roane, taken 
from Jackson county, was, prior to 1832, a portion of Wood county. 

In 1843 the county of Ritchie was formed from the eastern portion 
of Wood. Ilarrisville, situated on the north fork ot Hughes river, 
Vv'as made the county seat. The Northwestern Virginia Railroad, a 
branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, passes through the central 
part of this county from East to West. On its track are many beau- 
tiful and picturesque towns, lately sprung up as points of commercial 
business. The lands of this county are rough, broken and mountain- 
ous, yet abounding in rich minerals, oils and other substances, invit- 
ing the enterprise of capitalists. 

A portion of the territory of the present county of Doddridge was, 
prior to 1843, embraced in the boundaries of Wood county, in con- 
nection with the county ot Ritchie. From these facts, the reader can 
form some idea of the large territory of land once embraced in the 
boundaries of Wood county. 

In 1848 Wirt county was formed from the southern part of Wood, 
lying on both sides of the Little Kanawha river. The town of Eliza- 
beth, on the south side of the river, above the mouth of Tucker's creek, 
became the county seat. On the north side of the river, eight miles 
above Elizabeth, are the famous Burning Springs, and the great oil 
basin, from which there iseX[»orted annually vast quantities of petro- 
leum. A town by that name has there sprung up, inviting capital- 
ists. The working of these subterranean deposits of oil, in late years, 
has added greatly to the wealth and population of this county. Slack- 
water navigation, by dams, of the Little Kanawha, from Parkcrsburg 
on the Ohio, to Buruing Spritigs, is opening up a new tield of com- 
mercial enterprise to the back counties along the valley of the river 
and its tributaries, and should receive the fostering attention and care 
of the government. Slack-water navigation of this river up to the 



NEW COUNTIES. 13 

beds of mineral wealth which lie hid in the back mountains, would in- 
crease the commerce of the entire Little Kanawha Valley. 

At the time Dr. David Creel, who represented Wood county in the Leg- 
islature of Virginia, about the year 1820, made an effort to have the 
State engaged in this enterprise by improving this river by slack-water 
navigation. His effort met with opposition from the eastern portion of 
the iState, causing its failure. 

An Act of incorporation for this improvement was granted by the 
Legislature of West \'irginia on the 28th day of January, 1806 ; and 
an Act amendatory thereto, on the 4th day of March, 1868. The work 
of improvement of the river under the provisions of these Acts, from 
the city of Darkersburg to Burning Springs in Wirt county, a distance 
of upwards of forty miles, was commenced in 1870 and 1871. The 
late General J, J. Jackson and the Hon. J. N. Camden have been the 
fast and firm friends in prosecuting this great work, and it is now open 
and in active operation from Parkersburg to Burning Springs. 

In 1851 the county of Pleasants was formed from Wood, Tyler and 
Ritchie. In its formation all the territory of Wood between Bull creek 
and Middle Island was taken. St. Mary's, situated on the Ohio below 
the mouth of Middle Island, was made the county seat. This county 
presents a fine body of land for agricultural enterprise. It has a coast 
on the Ohio river of about twenty-five miles, embracing rich and wide- 
spreading bottoms of the best of lands. Middle Island creek, with its 
fertile bottoms and uplands, divides this county into nearly two ecjual 
parts. 

St. Mary's, the county seat, is pleasantly located on the Ohio river ; 
has a population of about 600. A Masonic, Odd Fellow and Encamp- 
ment Lodges are by Charters in active operation in the town ; also sev- 
eral churches and church edifices. In the Fall of 1877 a weekly news- 
paper was established, known as the Watch Word, edited by the Kev, F. 
M. Yates. This county is assuming a healthy and prosperous position 
among the Ohio river counties of the State. 

In the formation of the four counties named above, since the year 
1832, the county of Woo<l has lost nearly three-fourths of its original 
territory. Yet such has been its marvelous advancement in wealth and 
population, that it now has within its circumscribed boundaries an assess- 
able property ot about S8,000,000, and a population of upwards of 20,- 
000. And further, it may be said, that the new counties formed from 
her original territory have increased in like proportion. 

Few portions of our common country laboring under so many disad- 
vantages, can boast of a more healthy advancement in all the material 
elements ot wealth and prosperity than Wood county. Her original 
large territory has been taken away in the formation of these new coun- 
ties, until she now has only about 350 square miles. 



CKCJ^I^TEK/ III. 



COLONIAL SETTL3M3NTS. 

In the proccding Chapter we traced tlie divisions uiid .subdivisions 
of Western and North we.sturn Virginia into eountie'^, as its increasing 
l)opuhition demanded, and the spirit of enterprise pushed its settle- 
ments westward and northwestward from tlie Vidlev of Virginia. The 
House of Burgesses were active in their ctt'orts to meet the necessities 
of these settlements, as they arose from time to time in its colonial 
history. 

These divisions and subdivisions of counties in Western and North- 
western Virginia we traced from 1738, when the District of West 
Augusta was I'ormed, down to the present boundaries of Wood count}', 
showing in what name the territory of Wood count}' was included 
during those years. 

We now turn back, and in a brief and general way, view and trace 
the liistoiT of the settlements i'vom the tirst decades ot the eighteenth 
century onward, under the inliuences and surrounding dangers ot 
those times. 

In the early part of the eighteenth century settlements wore being 
made in the iShanandoah Valley and up the Eastern slopes of the Al- 
leghany mountains, and also up the valleys of the James and Roan- 
oke rivers west of the Blue Ridge; also alx)Ut the same period of time 
settlements were being made up that portion of Virginia generally 
known as the "Northern Neck." 

The bold and enterprising pioneers who entered these primeval 
forests were subjected to various and adverse fortunes, hardships and 
sufferings from the fre(pient raids and incursions ot the Indians; es- 
pecially from those inhabiting the Northwestern territory, whose 
war-paths extended up the two Kanawhas and Sandy rivers and 
through the forests of Kentucky. Owing to these untoward circum- 
stances the ettorts then made to pass the barriers of the Alleghany 
mountains were failures, and were abandoned until about the year 
17G0, at which time there was a trciity, or a partial treaty of peace 
with these Indian tribes. 



FRENCH \TAR. 15 

Also, ilnring the cnrlv part of the eighteenth centun- the French 
(jovernnioiit, under her rit;lits of discovery, was putting forth stron" 
;ind vigorous efforts to chiim and hohl her possessions in the valley of 
tiie great Mississijipi and its trihutary waters. Under tiic fostering care 
of that Govcriinient, stations or pos-ts of trade were estahlished amonuf 
the numerous tribes of Indians then inhabiting the greru Nortliwestern 
territory. These trading posts extended from the Canaihis and the 
Northern lakes to the Ohio river, and from thence onward to the terri- 
tory of Louisiana. They also established and sustained a few settle- 
ments at different places within the territory thus claimed. 

The House of Burgesses of Virginia, under her Collonial Charter 
from tiio English Government, rejected this rival claim put forth by the 
French Government to any and all the territory of the Tpper Missis- 
sippi. From time to time schemes were projected by the House of Bur- 
gesses for taking, holding and colonizing the same under the provisons 
of the grant specified in the Colonial Charter. But owing to the sparse 
population and her colonial vreakness, she failed in her attempts to 
sustain these euteprises. 

About tlie year 1750, the French Government established forts on 
the L'pper Ohio river, and one at the junction of the Monongahela and 
Allegheny rivers, which she named Fort DuQuesne, which occupied the 
present site of the city of Pittsburg. At that time about si.xty miles of 
the western part of the territory now embraced in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania was claimed and supposed to belong to the Colony of Virginia. 

L'nder the authority of the English Government, acting with the 
House of Burgesses of Virginia in 17o-4, General Braddock, at the 
head of an army, marched from Winchester, Va., to within a few miles 
of Fort DuQuesne, where, after crossing the Monongahehi river, he was 
ambushed and defeated by the Indians and lost his life. The retreat of 
the army was conducted by Col. Gejrge Washington. The object for 
capturing Fort Du<\)uesne from the French by the Virginia House of 
Burgesses was to settle and establish her claim in the Northwestern ter- 
ritory, and secure her settlements on the Ohio river and its tributaries 
against the devastations of the Indians and the claims of France. 

During the war with the French Government in ]7o>!, General Forbes, 
of Fennsylvania, made a successful movement and captured the Fort 
from the French and Indians, and held it until the close of that war, 
and gave to it the name of Fort Pitt. After the close of that war in 
17t)5, by a treaty of peace, the French Government relinquished all her 
claims to the lands in the Northwestern territory. But the war sj.irit of 
the Indians, who had been their confederates and allies during that war, 
still survived and manifested itself in fretiuent raids upon the Virginia 
Colony until 17G'J, when a treaty of peace was concluded with them. 

From thence during a comparative peace with these Indian tribes of 
two or three years, the hardy and enterprising yeomanry of Virginia 
and other Southern Colonies again pushed forward their settlements 



16 INDIAN WAR. 

Xorthward and Westwanl. In 170'.*, 1770 and 1771, settlements were 
extended further up the James and Roanoke rivers, and also over on the 
Greenbrier and New rivers, and also on the Mononi^ahela river and its 
tributaries, and down the Ohio river as far as Wheeling and Grave creek. 

The contest growing out of the dissatisfaction of the American Col- 
onies with Great Britain, the mother country, was then rapidly approach- 
ing. The deep ground swell of discontent and rebellion was agitating 
the colonial legislatures in all parts of the country ; a full knowledge of 
which was communicated to the Indian tribes of the Northwestern ter- 
ritory by British fur traders and agents who had taken the place of the 
French traders, causing these tribes to become restless and warlike, 
thereby making it necessary for the Colony of Virginia to raise troops 
and send northwest for the safety and protection of her settlements. 

In the summer of 1774, steps were taken by the House of Burgess- 
es of Virginia to raise two divisions — one under the command of 
Lord Dunmore, Governor of Va., to march to Fort Pitt, the other un- 
der the command of Gen'l. Andrew Lewis, to march to the mouth of 
the Big Kanawhu. It was arranged that he would there be joined 
by a detachment from Fort Pitt, with ammunition and supplies, early 
in October. But Gov. Dutimore, at Fort Pitt, remained strangely in- 
active, and, for some cause not fully accouuted tor, sent no supplies or 
ammunition to Gen'l. Lewis. (He however marched down the Ohio 
river as hir as Big Hocking. There he stopped and erected a Fort. 
From there, he marched to near Chilicothe, and met the great Chief- 
tain, Cornstock, and, concluded a partial jieace with him, and returned 
to Virginia, on the winter following.) On the morning of the 11th of 
October, 1774, Gen'l. Lewis found himself and his little army sur- 
rounded by the Shawnee Indian tribes, headed and led on by that 
tearless Indian monarch and warrior, the celebrated Cornstalk. The 
battle which followed was long, tierce and bloody, lasting the entire 
day. The great Chief was in the thickest of the fight, cheering his 
men by word and deed. As night came on Cornstalk called ott" his 
forces, gave up the battle, and retreated across the Ohio. Gen'l. Lewis 
being lett in possession of the ground, soon after erected a Fort, which 
was afterwards held and garrisoned tor the f>urpose of intersecting 
the Indian war-jnith up the Valley of the Big Kanawha, and thereby 
giving protection to the inland settlements ot Virginia, and securing 
its border territory. 

The strange course and policy pursued by Gov. Dunmore towards 
Gen'l. Lewis, in relation to this battle, and the circumstances connect- 
ed with liis meeting with Cornstalk and his Chiefs in their territory 
without suitable protection, and the hasty treaty of peace then made 
with the iShawnee mition furnish strong evidence tor the belief that 
Gov. Dunmore was in jiossession ot the policy then being pursued by 
the British Government in the formation of alliances with these In- 
dian tribes, preparatory to the war theu approaching. The course 



i:71. BATTLE AT POINT PLEASANT. 17 

he tlien pursued, taken in connection with his subsequent acts as Gover- 
nor, leads to this conclusion. Viewing the approaching contest of the 
Kevolutionary War t'rom this standpoint, makes the battle of General 
Lewis, at Point Pleasant, on the 11th day of October, 1774, the first bat- 
tle fought for American independence. It removes the commencement 
of that great struggle for liberty and independence from Lexington ami 
Concord, in the L^tate of Massachusetts, to the valley of the Ohio river, 
in the l>istrict of West Augusta. It was at Point Pleasant, on the 11th day 
of October, 1774, where the Virginia forces luet and comjuered these 
savage allies of the P»ritish Government, and thus gained the first victory 
for American independence. Let a monument to the memory of those 
brave men be there erected to commemorate that first battle for liberty. 

Again, in referring to the formation of the first settlements made in 
the District of West Augusta, between the years 17GiJ and 1774, it will 
be seen that those settlements swept in a circular belt, at station points 
as centers, around a large wilderness of heavy forest lands. Commen- 
cing at Wheeling and Grave creek, on the Ohio river, in the North, pass- 
ing over the dividing mountains to the waters of the Monongahela river, 
thence to Clarksburg on the West Fork river, thence over to Tygart 
\'alley and Buckhannon rivers in the East, from thence southward to 
the Greenbrier and New rivers, and from thence westward down New 
and Big Kanawha rivers to the Ohio river at Point Pleasant. This serai- 
circle embraces a space of about 170 miles on the Ohio river, extending 
back southeastward trom 50 to 125 miles. 

Owing to the exposed condition and near approaches to the Indian 
towns and settlements in the northwestern territory, from which squads 
of Indians were passing and repassing, and the fears arising from their 
cruel and relentless mode of warfare, this vast territory of heavy forest 
lands was left unsettled at that time, an<l during the next two decades 
it was slow in receiving emigrants, or the States in making the neces- 
sary provisions for the protection of those who had braved the dangers 
and privations of the wilderness. 

The Jjittle Kanawha river, a stream of considerable importance and 
magnitude, navigable in high stages of water by small boats, (and now by 
slackwater improvements for 40 miles), heads back in the Alleghany 
Mountains, and running in a northwesterly direction, passes through 
this territory and empties into the Ohio river at Parkersburg, about 
midway between Wheeling and Point Pleasant. The borders of this 
river with its numerous tributaries, are lined with lands well adapted to 
the husbandman and farmer for developing improvements and prosper- 
ity. Beneath its valleys and mountain forests of very heavy timber are 
hidden rich beds of untold wealth, while the surface is divided by numer- 
ous streams of water and water-power, for mills and machinery, murmur- 
ing their music in shady solitudes. Yet with all these primeval advantages, 
so richly and lavishly bestowe<l by nature, owing to their savage sur- 
roundings and threatening dangers, it secured but few, a very few, set- 



18 SETTLEMENTS — \l^r, TO 17'.'.'. 

tiers until about the year IT"^-"). In 17^0 and IT'Jo the bold ami daring 
enterprise of pioneers became more frcfjuent, tempting them to penetrate 
these unbroken solitudes for the purpose of opening up and making their 
future homes. They have long since passed away, and but a few only have 
left any record of themselves and of their times behind them. 

Before closing this chapter we will turn back to the battle of Point 
Pleasant. Soon after that battle, as we have stated, u treaty of peace 
was concluded between the great Indian warrior and statesman, Corn- 
stalk, anil Governor Dunmore, of Viririnia, in October 1774. 

This treaty of peace was strictly and taithfnlly observed by tliis mon- 
arch of the kShawnee Nation. Ilis sagacious mind saw no prosperity 
and happiness for his nation only on their living on terms of amity and 
peace with the white inhabitants of these colonies. In his defeat and 
sorrow he luul found that the Indian could not cope with the white man 
on the battle-field. And though Great Britain had her agents and em- 
issaries among his tribes, endeavoring to enlist them and form alliances 
up to the spring of 1777, yet by his great influence and power he ha<l 
kept his tribes in peace. 

Ill the spring of 1777 this great chief and monarch of that Nation, 
with two otliers of his tribe, came to the fort at Point I'leasant for the 
purpose of making the authorities of Virginia acquainted with the ef- 
forts then being made among his tribes to enlist them against the colo- 
nies. This condition of mind in hira undoubtedly grew out of the fjict 
in some way connected with the treaty made with Governor Dunmore 
in 1774. lie and those with him were detained at the fort as hostages 
until the information brought by them could be conveyed to the Govern- 
ment of \'a. In consequence of the long absence from his tribe, his son 
EUinipsico, a chief of one of his tribes, came to Point Pleasant to ascer- 
tain the cause of his long stay. On the following day after his arrival, 
two of the soldiers of the garrison crossed over the Big Kanawha on a 
hunting expedition, and while thus engaged one of these men was shot 
and murdered by some wandering Indian. Of the presence or who these 
wandering Indians were, EUinipsico declared he had no knowledge and 
was in no way connected with them. In that hour of tumult, of fren- 
zied passions, the soldiers of the garrison determined that they would at 
once avenge the death of their companion by shooting the great chief 
and son and those with tlu-m 

In that sad hour of revengful hatred, of danger and of death, the un- 
daunted courage, coolness and greatness of this warrior chieftain did not 
forsake hira. In his innocence he faced the sentence of death boldly 
and endeavored to sustain and cheer his son by words of kindness and 
sympathy. Facing the mob whose leaden missiles were pointed at him, 
■without a word he fell pierced with many balls. Thus ended the career 
of this, one of the noblest of the Indian chieftains ; one whose oratory 
had made classic the eloijuence of nature, one whose boldness and he- 
roic bearing on the battle-field was the pride and glory of the fc>hawnec 



cornstalk's death. 19 

Nation, ami whose tniiiic de.itli was the signal of gloom arnl iiorror to 
the settlements in Virginia and elsewhere. 

This overt acL of treachery, arising from a sudden and momentary pas- 
sion, prompted and immediately executed under a spirit of inconsiderate 
levenge upon these innocent persons, then held in custo<ly as hostages 
for the safety of others, wns an nnpardonahlc indiscretion — an act of 
l)ad faith, which even civilized nations would not overlook or fail to pun- 
ish. As it might have been justly expected it served to incite all the In- 
dian tribes of the northwestern territory in deadly hostility and war 
against the white settlements of the colonies, which lasted not only du- 
ring the Hevolutionary War, but long after that sanguinary struggle was 
endtMl A\ith the British Government. The thinly and exposed position 
of the whole country in Virginia, west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
made -its slopes and valleys the theatre of savage vengeance and deeds 
of untold sufferings. In consequence of this heart-sickening and cruel 
war, and the exposed condition ot these irontier settlements, this whole 
vast territory of Western and Northwestern Virginia was slow in be- 
coming settled. Many were the thrilling tales of adventure and heroic 
daring here enacted by these early pioneers, who sought to make homes 
for themselves and their families. Not until near the year ISOO did the 
thinly inhabited settlements of the Ohio river and its tributaries feel that 
they were free and safe from savage revenge. Yet there were those 
whose limited means and love of adventure caused them to seek homes 
and settle in these forest wilds. 

As a general rule these courageous and hardy men were persons of 
the most generous impulses. Though many of them were uneducated, 
and possessed a rough exterior, yet they possessed hearts of generosity, 
and enjoyed happiness in sympathizing and making those happy around 
them. The hoarding of the "almighty dollar" was not the object of 
their ambition and love. In their daily intercourse they were social, 
kind and generous, imparting or bestowing their hospitalities with cheer- 
fulness. They were kind, generous and considerate to those around 
them and thereby enjoyed happiness in the happiness of others. They 
were kind for kindness sake. 

The huntsmans camp, and the ru(le log cabins of the pioneers, with 
their few articles of rough furniture, were the abodes of genuine good feel- 
ings, and honest open handed hospitality. A common sympathy was 
felt and shared by neighbors, in the social amities of life. Toils, priva- 
tions, and common dangers endured, became a strong bond of attach- 
ment, mutual kindness and gooil will. It w.is thus, in the opening and 
early settlements ot these mountain fastnesses of West Virginia. A new- 
era — a new world is opened out before the present generation, begotten 
by the rapid advancements in the arts and sciences, and the manner in 
which they were communicated. Owing to these courses, the present 
generation can form but an imperfect idea of the hardships and dangers, 
endured and overcome by the first inhabitants of Western X'ir^inia. 



CH:A.:pa?EK; iv. 



POLICY OF THS COLONY AS TO HER PUBLIC LANC2, 



In preparing tliese Chapters on Wej'tern, and North Western Vir- 
g'inia, for the pnrpose of enabling the reader, to form clear and cor- 
rect ideas of its early history, Ave devote each chapter, to certain facts 
in that history, as thor»u facts were connected with, and had an in- 
fluence in shaping the formation of these settlements. All of these 
separate and distinct facts, we desire to photograph upon the mind 
of the reader, for the purpose of enabling liim to see, and have cor- 
rect conceptions of the nnineron.-^ obstacles, which had a tendency to 
cripple and retard its rapid settlements, during the latter part of the 
eighteenth, and the first part ot the present century. 

In former chapters, we presented a general outline of its territory • 
with its divisions and subdivisions into counties, as its settlements 
from time to time, made it necessary. Pursuing the same course, in 
this chapter, we shall notice the policy of tlie colony in surveying out 
its public lands. 

It must be remembered, that the colony of Virginia, was under the 
laws, and dependant on tlie English government. Large grants of 
land had been made to many of her nobility, for the purpose of col- 
onizing her poorer classes, and furnishing them with homes in this 
New \Vorld, under tiie same i)olicy, wliich had obtained under her 
home regulations. Hence the actual tillers of the soil, were poor, 
and the })olicy pursued by the House of Burgesses, was shaped Ijy the 
English government in the grants and surveys of her public lands. 

Thus it will be seen, that the landed policy of the colony, was 
forced upon her by the Mother country, and owing to the dangers 
growing out of the hostile character of the Indians, and the limited 



SURVEYS OF LAXDS. 21 

resources of her territory, the same general [tolicy was continued; es- 
pecially was this the condition of the colony at the close of the Revo- 
lutionary war. 

A person who will reflect upon the condition of tliis countr}-, at, 
and prior to that war — the liostile attitude of the Indians, who had 
been in alliance, first, with the French, and then with the English 
government, will at once see the nature and character of these diffi- 
fulties, and the enforced reasons whicii caused Virginia, as a State, 
to pursue the landed policy which liad been entailed upon her, by 
Great Britain. 

Therefore, in this Chapter, we shall treat of the surveys of lands, 
made in Western and North Vv estern Virginia, as the same arise un- 
der that policy, and the effects thereof upon the future settlements of 
this portion of the State. Yet in doing so, we do not intend to cast 
any reflections upon the men of tliose colonial years, who labored to 
perform their duties under the embarrassing circumstances of those 
times. 

It is a well known fact throughout the entire country, that the ti- 
tles to lands in Western, and IS^orth Western Virginia are uncertain 
and unsatisfactory. Courts of justice within its territory have had 
their dockets crowded with suits in which these titles have been the 
subject of litigation for the purpose of settling these conflicting claims. 
The doubts and insecurity of these titles has had a very damaging in- 
fluence upon the settlements as well as upon the business enterprise 
ot the country. And yet these diflSculties are not all settled. Suits 
tor settling the title to lands in the State, are yet upon the dockets of 
our courts. Soon, however, these claims will be finally settled. 

The first survey made ot land in the Ohio valley, of which we 
have any record, was those made tor Gen. Gorge Washington, in the 
summer of 1771, for services rendered the colony ot Virginia, as col- 
onel during the French and Indian war. These surveys for him 
were made in that summer under his personal su[)ervision, by Col. 
William Crawford (who was afterwards captured by the Indians and 
burnt at a stake in 17!>3.) The tirst ot these entries and surveys Avas 
a tract of 2314 acres of land situated five miles below the mouth ot the 
Little Kanawha river in this county, and made in June, 1771. This 
county was then a part of the District of West Augusta. Several oth- 
er surveys were made l)y him on the Ohio and the Big Kanawha 
rivers, during that summer, and were claimed to be the first made in 
tliis valley, under the authority of the colony of Virginia. 

In the spring of 1771, Col. Geo. Washington with his surveying 
party embarked in small boats at Fort I'itt, and slowly descended the 
Ohio river, making notes of their journey and of the country as they 
passed down the river to the mouth of the Big Kanawlia, and also in 
their ascending that river to the falls. A full account of this voyage 
was published some years since in Eastern newspapers, and was made 



-2 r-iEN. U'ASHINGTON's SURVEYS. 

very intsrosting, as showing tlie condition of tlie country at that tinu"'. 

The tract of 2314 acres in this county, surveyed and patented to 
liini, has, since that time, been known b\- tlie name ot'^VVashincrton 
Bottom." , It is a tine body of hind situated, in a bend of the Ohio, 
immediately below Bhmnerhassett's Ishmd. It was first settled in 
the fall ot ISOfJ, by emigrants trom Louchjn county, Va. No portion 
of our county Avas first settled by more noble, generous and worthy 
citizens, than Washington Bottom. They brought with them their 
old Virginia bearing and ho>|»itality, and a most cordial welcome was 
given to those who visited that portion of our country. The early 
settlement of "Washington Bottom' and sketches of its citizens and 
families is reserveJ for a future Chajiter in this series. 

It will be noticed by the reader that General Washington in 1771 
became a large land holder in the District of West Augusta, And dur- 
ing the Indian war he had become acquainted witli the character of 
the early pioneers of Western, and Nortli Western Virginia. Proba- 
bly it was owing to these facts that during the dark days of the Rev- 
olution, when the liberties antl independence ot these States trembled 
in the balance of social, political and religious freedom, that caused 
liim to look to the District of West Augusta, as liis place of retreat, in 
the event of a failure of the American cause : and from here he would 
maintain the struggle and continue the war for national indeiiend- 
ence. During tlie French war he had become acquainted with these 
men, and couhl rely u]>on them as aiding and sustaining him in the 
cause of freedom against the government of Great Britain. Gen. 
Washington in early life formed a very correct idea of the importanee 
oi the Western country and of the necessity of having inland commu- 
nications with the Eastern portion of the State. Other large grants 
and surveys were nuide about the same time. One (Opposite Parkers- 
Ijurg, of 28,000 .'icres was made to Van Strobo and others, for military 
services. 

For the purpose of increasing emigration and furnishing homes on 
a cheaf> scale to the young, adventurous and enterprising yeomanry 
of those early years in Virginia's history, and to cause tliem to colonize 
and settle upon her trausallcghany domain — her wide spread wilder- 
ness territory, tlie House of Burgt;sses, by colonial enactments and 
laws, presented and gave to the actual settlers of these lands, great 
inducements. Among the laws thus enacted, was that of a settle- 
ment rigiit and preemption claim. This legislative enactment or col- 
onial law secured to the individuals, who might take up, occupy, 
clear and cultivate a few acres of land and erect a cabin thereon, a 
patent for 400 acres ot land around and including the improve- 
ment, with the further right of preempting by entry or treasury war- 
rant, 1000 acres adjoining the said settlement right of 400 acres, 
within a specific limited time. There were many persons who made 
efforts to avail themselves of the liberal provisions of these laws of 



SETTLEMENTS, RIGHTS, AC. 23 

colonial lejjislation, but owing to the trouble arising from predatory 
bands of Indinns, then infesting the country, many of these settlers 
abandoned their claims thus made. Vet under the provisions of these 
hxws a few settlements were successfully made in Western, and North- 
western Virginia, while it was embraced in the District of West Augusta, 
prior to the \ear 1776. Also like settlements were made between the 
years 177*) and 1784, when it was included in the counties of Monon- 
galia and Ohio, and also, when this valle}' was included in Harrison 
county, between the years 1784 and 1799, when this (Wood) county 
was formed, like settlements were made. 

The first actual settlements made in the valley of the Ohio, and 
in this county, were made under the provisions of these settlement rights 
and preemption laws of the commonwealth. And further we may add, 
that it was under the provisions of these laws, arose what was once gen- 
erally known in this country as the "Tomahawk,*' right or title. A 
Tomahawk claim or right was generally made by selecting some prom- 
inent place or situation, and making a deadening of the growing timber, 
and marking his name and date of his claim on prominent trees, as his 
entry. By this mode of proceeding he gave notice to all land adventur- 
ers of his settlement right to 400 acres and pre-emption claim, to 1000 
acres of land surrounding the deadening thus made, and the rights claim- 
ed thereby. The first settlers in this country recognized these Toma- 
hawk entries, and the rights growing out of them, and they were fre- 
quentl}' sold and transferred to persons who afterwards settled upon them 
and perfected a title. 

From the year 1769 the date of the treaty of peace with the Indians, 
under Governer Dunmore, of Virginia, to the year 1795, the date of 
the treaty of peace made after the victories of General Anthony Wayne 
over the Indians inhabiting the Northwestern territory, there were in this 
vast wilderness territory, but a few inhabitants, scattered in settlements 
far apart from each other, who had here secured homes. Yet this wide 
wildernes domain invited the enterprise of land speculators from the 
Eastern and Northern states. These speculators procured from the 
Land Office of Virginia, at a nominal price, land warrants for large en- 
tries anotracts of land, to be located in this unbroken forest wilderness. 
A large proportion of these entries and surveys were made in this coun- 
try, between the years of 1785, after the close of the Revolutionary war. 
and 1795, after the close of the Indian war under General Wayne 
Durinii: these twelve years, numerous In<lian bands, from various tribes 
were on the war path, passing through and infesting and carrying onj|a 
sickening war upon these frontier settlements of VVesteni and North- 
western Virginia and the Districts of Kentuck\ . 

The colony of Virginia had adopted no correct and sure system for 
having her wild, unsettled lands surveyed and divided off into sections 
of any given quantities, by which persons might and could enter their 
land warrants. But instead of pursuing such a ssytem, her policy was 



24 SURVEYS OF LANDS. 

to let the owner of a land warrant locate and make his own entry and 
survey wherever he chose, leaving the rights to the land thus acquired 
by the landholder subject to the rights ot any prior claim or patent. 

I'nder this policy distant lan<l speculators or land companies procured 
their land warrants for a definite number of acres. The number of acres 
named in these warrants, the holdor of them entered, independent of oth- 
ers, who may have entered lands or without any correct knowledge of 
the lands he was entering. 

Owing to the many dangers arising from predatory bands of Indians 
then infesting this wilderness and lurking in ambush to wreak their ven- 
geance, only a few surveys of these wild lands were made at the time of 
their being entered. 

The course most generally pursued by the surveyor in those years was, 
to select some very noted or prominent point and mark a beginning cor- 
ner, and run and mark the line for some little distance, and then in his 
camp protract a chain of surveys many times, not even knowing where 
they might end, leaving the entire chain of surveys dependent upon the 
first survey and beginning corner. In after years when these protract- 
ed surveys were run out, the lines would be found to cross the Ohio river 
or would frequently intercept and cross the lines of other surveys, so 
that in some instances the lands would be covered by two or three dif- 
ferent patents, bearing difterent dates. This insecure and equivocal pol- 
icy, adopted when Virginia was a colony under the British Government, 
has caused immense trouble in the land titles of Western and Northwest- 
ern Virginia. These troubles are not all yet ended. In past years they 
have hindered and retarded its settlements by the uncertainty connected 
with her land titles, causing many to leave or pass by and seek homes in 
the far West, where a more safe policy obtained. 

Chapter upon chapter might be written in reviewing the past history 
of the early settlements of Western Virginia, thereby disclosing many 
of the causes and considerations which acted as hindrances to the growth 
and population in all the essential elements of material wealth. Among 
these might be noticed the fact that the Legislature of the ^State was 
slow to award to her any material aid in the opening up and developing 
her resources and advantages. In the early years of her history she 
was made to feel her dependei^ce upon the clemency of the Eastern mem- 
bers composing that august body of legislation. 

This and the preceding chapters will furnish the inquiring mind with 
a key which will unlock, open and disclose many of the adverse causes 
which in the past has held in check the tides of emigration to her lofty 
mountains and beautiful valleys, and the reasons why the development 
of her internal wealth was not sooner made. They also furnish the rea- 
sons why the prosperity, health and happiness enjoyed by persons in 
her pure mountain air, her mineral waters and invigorating climates were 
passed by. 



* RESULTS. 25 

But her past history discloses the fact that amid all these adverse con- 
ditions she has held on her way, and though her external wealth and in- 
creasing population has not been rapid as compared with many other 
States of the Union, yet it has been healthy and advancing. And not- 
withstanding all these varied conditions, she can look with pride upon 
her native-born citizens and feel that she has contributed her full share 
of great men — men whose names brightly adorn the history and fame 
of our common country. 

In closing this chapter the numerous and health-restoring springs of 
mineral water which abound in these mountains should not be lost sight 
of. Their reputation is fast becoming world-wide. The invalid is made 
to rejoice and look forth upon life with renewed hopes. Again, while 
closing, we turn and with gladness of heart contemplate her mild and in- 
vigorating climate: the salubrious and health-restoring atmosphere ot 
her grand, majestic mountains; her picturesque and lovely valleys in all 
the splendor of their scenery; all — all conspire to give breadth and 
strength to the mind, and force upward the intellectual and moral growth 
of character; to energize, e.xpand and elevate the moral perceptions, and 
call forth the generous emotions of the heart. The contemplation of the 
wild, majestic scenery of these lofty and picturesque mountains, are well 
calculated to enlarge and give force and power to thought and strength 
of purpose to its inhabitants. Again, the soft, mellow tints of her flushed, 
golden sunsets, as they fade into azure loveliness and deepen into the 
shades of night, awaken within the soul tlie purest emotions of grateful 
adoration and praise to that infinite Being who has piled up these sub- 
lime ranges and overshadowed them with such gaudy vestments. And 
yet for years past, this majestic mountain scenery — this " Switzerland 
of America " — has been passed by for the unvarying monotony of the 
"plains of the farther West," where health and happiness have been sac- 
rificed. 



OH:A.FTE:Ee; v. 



INDIAN HOSTILITIES. 



Among the present inhabita»it8 of Western :in<l North wt'snern \ irginia 
there are but a few, a very tew, it any, to be found who know of the fre- 
quent alarms, the sufferings and privations, incident upon its early set- 
tlements. Even the present frontier life along oar far Western border 
presents but a faint idea of the many hardships, adventures and tragedies 
of the early pioneers into the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. What a 
vast and mighty change has come over the world of mankind during the 
last one hundred years, especially in our country, under the fostering 
care of our republican institutions. The dark, impenetrable forests 
which secreted the Indian in his acts of barbarism, cruelty and bloo<l, 
have with him faded, and are disappearing like the mist upon the moun- 
tains, as the sunlight of civilization ond earnestenterprise has gone forth 
and opened up the treasures of wealth in our wide spread country, from 
ocean to ocean. The prouil and haughty spirit of the bloody and re- 
vengeful Indian has been broken, anil the years of his dominion are clo- 
sing upon the great drama of time. Soon all the traces of his dark and 
bloody empire will have passed away, and the vast realms ot his wilder- 
ness home will be lost in the noontide glory of American greatness. 

We propose devoting this chapter to giving accounts of these raids 
and depredations made by Indiiins, within the original limits of Wood 
county as far as they have come to our knowledge. 

After the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and the treaty of 
peace with the English Government, the war spirit and hostility of the 



GEX. HARMAR AND OTHERS — CAPT. CARPENTER. 



27 



Indians, who had been in alliance with them, did not cease. From that 
time to 1795 small parties of Indians would make raids upon the white 
settlements of Western and Northwestern Virginia and Kentucky for" 
the purpose of plunder, taking captives and scalps from the victims of 
their inhuman barbarity. The treaties made with a few of these North - 
we.-<tern tribes wore but of little worth, soon violated on either side, af- 
fording and giving no quiet security to the settlements. 

Owing to these causes it was not until 1785 that any permanent set- 
tlements were made in any part of the territory embraced in the origi- 
nal boundaries of Wood county, of which any definite knowledge can be 
ascertained at this time". There were, however, in 1783, and prior thereto, 
pre-emption rights or tomahawk claims made by Samuel and Joseph 
Tumlinson, the three Briscoe brothers, Robert Thornton and others, in 
the rich bottom lands of the Ohio river. But no accounts of any Indian 
depredation being made upon any of them have come down to us. 

From the year 1785 to 1795, all the tribes of the Northwestern terri- 
tory, excepting the Moravians, were engaged in a united war upon the 
white settlements of this great valley. Early in the fall of 1791, Gen- 
eral Harmar started with an army made up of militia and 300 regular 
troops from Fort Washington (now Cincinnati) for the Indian towns in 
the Miami and Scioto Valleys, and in two engagements with the Indians 
was badly defeated each time. In November following. General Arthur 
St. Clair raised an army of about the same number and started from the 
same Fort, for the same valleys, but met a very signal defeat and great 
loss of life. These successes of the Indians gave them great conlidence 
of final succe.ss and caused them to reject all otters for negotiations lor 
peace. In December following. General Scott raised a volunteer regi- 
ment at Louisville. Ky., and invaded the Miami Valley and defeated the 
Indians and recaptured much .)f the army property lost by General St. 
Clair, and returned to Kentucky. This expedition inspired the frontier 
settlements with hope. 

It was during the year 1790 that the first Indian raids were made 
upon this county. In September 1791 a party of Indians crossed the 
Ohio river and eaptureil a bright mulatto boy belonging to ('apt, James 
Neal, of Neal's Station, named Frank Wycott', while on their way to 
West Fork river (a branch of the Monongahela). But on their way there 
they came across the trad made by Capt. Nicholas Carpenter, of Harri- 
son county, in driving a drove of cattle to Marietta. They turned their 
course and followed the trail, supposing it to be that of emigrants. Capt. 
Carpenter, with hn son and four persons with him, had crossed Bull creek 
with his drore and encamped on a run. On the next morning the In- 
<lian8 surprised and made an attack and killed him and his son, and three 
of the men with him. Mr. Jesse Hughes, one of the men, by his tieetness 
made his escape and returned to Harrison county. The Indians after 
scalping those they had killed, returned to where they had tied Frank, 
who, whilst thev were absent, had released himself and made safe his es- 



28 .IAS. KELLEY, MR. WOOD's SONS, 

cape back to his muster. That run has since been known in the county 
by the name of Carpenter's run. Mr. Isaac Williams headed a party 
and made pursuit after the Indians, but failed in overtaking them. They 
returned and buried the mutilated bodies of Capt. Carpenter and the oth- 
ers. They then returne<l home and made their defences against the In- 
dians more secure. 

During the fall of the year, Mr. James Kelley, wlio, with his family 
resided at Belleville, on the Ohio river, in this county, eighteen miles 
below I'arkersburg, while out at work was surprised, shot and scalped 
by a party of Indians on their return home. His ohiest son, .Joseph, who 
was with him, then six years old, was captured and taken off by them to 
a Shawnee village in Ohio, where he remained until after the treaty of 
peace at Crreenviile in 17i>5, when he was surrendered to Com. K. J. 
Meigs, and returned to his widowed mother, then residing at Marietta. 
He had been adopted by an aged Indian warrior (who had lost his live 
sons in battles), named Merhalenic, and received great kindness at his 
hands; and indeed he had become so much attached to his foster Indian 
father that he parted with him in sorrow. Mr. Kelley finally settled and 
married in Marietta, raised a large and respectable family of children, 
and died there some years since, respected and beloved f )r his many vir- 
tues. In other years we have heanl him speak of the kindness mani- 
fested for him by his Indian father, and the p:iinful regrets he had when 
he parted with him and his Indian friends. 

Someiime during the summer of 17'.>0 a party of Indians crossed the 
Ohio river below Parkersbnrg, for the purpose of destroying Neal's Sta- 
tion and capturing Capt. Jas. Neal. They had secreted themselves in 
ambush a short distance up a run from the station for the purpose of as- 
certaining its stren^sjth. Whilr thus secreted, two boys of \Ir. Wood, 
aged twelve and fifteen years, were sent out in the evening to hunt the 
cows, came upon the Indians, who at onee seized and tomahawked them. 
Their screams were heard by .Mrs. Neal at the Station. The Indians 
fearing the alarm thus made, scalped the boys and then left, thus aban- 
doning their attack upon Mr. Neal and the force at the Station. 

In the fall ot 1702 Mr. Daniel J\o\vell, a son-in-law of Capt. James 
Neal, and his son Henry Neal, and a Mr. Triplett, left Neal's station 
and ascended the Little Kanawha river in a canoe, some torty miles, to 
the mouth of Burning Spiings run, now in Wirt county, on a hunting 
excursion. On the evening of their landing they built a camp, while Mr. 
I-iowell took off the lock of his gun to examine the spring. .Just at that 
time they heard what they supposed to be the clucking ot wihl turkeys 
on the opposite or south shore of the river. Thinking of the tine repast 
a good turkey would make for a supper, they sprung into their canoo, 
Mr. Neal ami Mr. Triplett standing, and Mr. Rowell seated in the stern, 
working and steering the canoe across the river. As it struck the 
shore they were fired upon by the Indians in ambush, and Mr. Neal and 
Triplett fell dead into the river. Mr. Rowell sprang over the stern 



IIEVRY NEAL .t MR. TRTPLETT AND PARCHMENT, 29 

of the canoe with his gun in his haml ami swam back to the northern 
shore, while a shower of bullets fell arouml him but failed to do execu- 
t'on. On reaching the shore he saw that the Indians were iiursuini; him 
in the canoe, and to facilitate his escape hid his frun (as he always said) 
under a red oak log in Burning Spring run. From thence he passed 
out a short distance from the river, through a low gap, and the better to 
elude his pursuers, changed his course and recrossed the river a few 
miles below where they had been surprised, and returned to the station. 
Here he raised a party and retiirneil and pursued the Indians. But so 
much time had intervened that the pursuit was unavailing, the Indians 
having made good their escape. The bodies of Mr. Neal and Mr. Trip- 
lett were found in the river, unscalped, and were interred, the Indians 
having failed to find them. 

The probabilities are, that this party ot hunters had been discovered 
by the Indians while ascending the river, and were decoyed from their 
camp by the Indians imitating the cry of the wild turkey. It has also 
been supjiosed that this was the same party of Indians that were killed 
soon after at Wheeling, as they took a course in that direction. 

Mr. Daniel Kowell, with his family, moved from here many years ago 
and settled in the West. lie, however, <lied at the residence of his son, 
Dr. Noal Kowell, in Florence, Alabama, in 1851, aged 93 years. 

In 1858 the gun was found at the place whore it had been hid, in a 
state of preservation, so as to be identified; although it had been sixty- 
seven years, arid the remains of the red oak tree were then to be seen. 
'J'he muzzle of the gun had become fast in a young dogwood, about six 
inches above the ground. The barrel, trigger, guard, thimble and brass 
cover, with the words "iJberttj or Death" engrave«l upon it, were for- 
wardLHi to ])r. Neal Kowell, his son, then residing in Florence, Alabama, 
in 18.')9. 

After the occurrence of this mournful tragedy in our county, great 
vigilance was used by the few inhabitants during the remainder of the 
Irnlian War to its close-in 1795. 

Mr. Jacob Parchment, a young man, left the garrison at Belleville in 
tliL' tall of 1790, to h>int deer on tlie South Branch of Lee creek, about a 
mile back of the station, was shot and scalped by a party of nine Indians. 
Mr. John Coleman was within a short distance of him when it occurred, 
but owing to the number of Indians was unable to render any assistance 
to his comrade. This was the lirst death by the Indians which had oc- 
curred to the inhabitants of this settlement, and had a tendency to cast 
a deep gloom ovei" them, causing them to e.xercise great caution in all 
tlitir future movements and operations. 

Late in the spring of 1792, Mr. Stephen Sherrod, who had left the 
irarrrison, at Belleville, and after feeding his hogs had gone to the woods 
to cut an oxgad, was surprised and captured by a party of ten Indians 
and taken off a prisoner. His wife, a Itold and courageous woman, had 
left the garrison soon after to milk the cow, a short distance off, was 



30 MR. SIIERROD— MR. COLEMAN. 

seized by two of the Indians, who intended to make her a prisoner also. 
She, however, resisted them with so much force, and screamed so loudlv, 
that one of the Indians knocked her down, while the other proceeded to 
take herscalp. Her screams brought Mr. Peter Anderson from the garri- 
son, who shot the Indian and wounded him in the arm, causing them hastily 
to retreat. Mrs. Sherrod was senseless for a long time from the stun- 
ning blow of the tomahawk, which had gashed her head in a shocking 
manner. Mr. Joshua Dewey immediately proceeded to Marietta, Ohio, 
a distance of thirty miles, in a light canoe, for a physician. lie made this 
trip in about forty hours and returned with Dr. Jabez True, who suc- 
ceeded in her recovery. 

The garrison at this time contained but five men, and it was consi<l 
ered unsafe to pursue this party of Indians. They crosseil the Ohio on 
a raft, with Mr. Sherrod as prisoner, at the narrows above Belleville bot- 
tom, and took up the valley of the Big Hocking. They bound Mr. iSher- 
rod's hands securely behind him with thongs of bear-skin, and in this 
manner he was hurried on until night, five of the Indians marching be- 
fore him and five behind. While on their way tliey informed him that 
they had killed an old woman at the garrison. At night they made him, 
with his hands tied behind him, lie down on his back while they cut slen- 
der saplings and laid them across him from his head to his feet. On the 
ends of these the Indians spread blankets and laid down to sleep. As 
soon as Mr. Sherrod discovered that they were all asleep, by their heavy 
breathing, he quietly released his hands and slowly worked himself from 
under the saplings, and took down the valley of the river. He soon en- 
tered it and by wading and swimming passed down a considerable dis- 
tance, and came out on the opposite shore. He pursued his way to the 
Ohio, and early the next morning he bailed the garrison, who at once 
went to his rescue in a boat. He at once learned the sad condition of 
his wife, yet in time was enabled to rejoice in her discovery. 

Mr. Sherrod was a native of New Hampshire, and in early life had re- 
moved to the Wyoming Valley of PennsylvaniiK While there he had 
become well acquainted with the Indian mode of warfare, and was re- 
garded as an excellent frontiersman. After the treaty of peace of 1795, 
he, with his family, removed to the Mississippi V^alley. 

For the purpose of procuring a supply of meat in the month of Feb- 
ruary, lli^'i, a party left the garrison at Belleville on a liunting expedi- 
tion. The party was composed of Mr. Malcomb Coleman and his son 
John Coleman, Elijah I'ixley and James Ryan, They descended the 
Ohio in a pirogue to the mouth of Mill creek (now in Jackson county), 
and ascended that creek about four miles. Here they built a comforta- 
ble camp, to which they retreated at night after spending the day in hunt- 
ing. Here Mr. Coleman and his party passed several days very pleas- 
antly, meeting with success, filling their pirogue with venison and bear 
meat. The weather, which had been fine, set in cold, with a light fall 
of snow. During this time the water in Mill creek had fallen so as to 



MR. MALCOMH COLEMAN. 31 

prevent them getting back their craft over a fall, above which they were 
lying. While in this condition, John Colenaan and Elijah Pixley re- 
turned to the garrison for flour and salt. The third morning after their 
departure, Mr. Miilcorab Colt-man rose very early and prepared their 
breakfast, anxiously expecting their return. While invoking a l)lessing 
on their simjde meal, the sharp oraek of a rifle was heard, and a shot 
passed throii^di his slioulder. So little fear had lie of the Indians, 
that lie said: "Can John have returned and shot me by accident?"' 
P.ofore ho could learn the fact a second shot passed through his head 
and he fell dead by the side of his companion. Mr. James Hyan made 
(lis escape from the Indians and regained the garrison. On the day 
that Mr. Coleman was murdered, Mr. Joshua Dewey made a visit to 
the camp for the purj)ose of seeing his friends, but to his horror he 
found his old friend murdered, scalped, stripped of his c'othing, and 
the camp {.lundered. He was the first to reach the garrison at Belle- 
ville an(l give the painful intelligence. At once a part\ of seven men 
left the garrison and descended the Ohio in a (;anoe, for the camj* on 
Mill creek, but the Indians had taken the pirogue and its load with 
the caiu[> equii)age and made safe their retreat. After interring Mr. 
Coleman at that place they returned. This calamity was severely felt 
and sjtrcad a deep gloom over the entire settlement. He had been 
long regarded as u putriarch in the community, blending the gaaees 
of the Christian with the fultillment ot all the active duties of life. 
Many of his descendants reside in the lower part (»f this and Jackson 
county. The Uev. H. R. Coleman, ot the Kentucky Conference of the 
M. E. Church, South, is one ot his great-grandsons and a worthy rep- 
resentative ot this heroic family, 

Mr. Peter Anderson, of whom we have spoken, married one of his 
daughters and became the head ot a large family of children, and 
many of Ins descenilants still reside in that vicinity. Mr. Anderson 
was born near Cumberland. Md., in 1757. In his early youth his pa- 
rents removed over the mountains and settled near West I^iberty on 
lintlalo creek in this State. At the age of twenty-nine he and his 
brother Andrew settled at lielleville, where he resitled until his death 
in 1838. His generous bearing and social qualities, combined with 
his suj)eriorJiHlgment, caused him to ()C(;u[»y a i)rominent jilace in 
that community. Soon alter the formation of Wood county, lie was 
eommissioned, 4th May, 1801, and tilled the othce of Justice of the 
Peace accej>tably, tiutil his great age caused him to resign. 

In the summer ot 17W1 a small gari'ison of Virginia troops were 
-tationed at Belleville and another one at Parkersburg, under the di- 
rection ot Col. Glendeneii. These two garrisons of troops were de- 
signed for the protection of these frontier settlementP, ami check the 
raids of Indians from the Northn'estern territory, who at that time 
were conmiitting many dejiredations on these frontiers, aiul in the 
back settlements ot Virginia. We have no means at hand to as- 



32 MOSES IIEAVETT. 

certain the number of men sent to either of these garrisons, nor are 
we in possession of the results of their operations. We have stated 
the tact of their being here with the hope that some one else will fur- 
nish further information. 

Some time in the month of Ma}-, 1702, while living at Neal's Sta- 
tion, on the Kanawha river, Mr. Hewett rose earlv in the morning 
and went out of the garrison in search of a stray horse, little expect- 
ing Indians to be near, as none liad been in the vicinity for some time. 
When sauntering along at his ease in an obscure cattle i>atli, about a 
mile from the station, all at once three Indians sprang uj»on him from 
a large tree with their tomahawks raised. So sudden had been the 
onset, and so completely was he in their grasp, that resistance was 
vain, and probably would have cost him his life. He therefore quietly 
surrendered, thinking that in a icw days he would tind some means 
of escape. Tlje Indians immediately made their retreat for their towns 
in Ohio, crossing the Ohio river below Belleville to the dividing ridges 
between Hocking and Shade rivers. On their way the Indians treat- 
ed their prisoner with as little harshness as could be expected, sharing 
with him in their daily meals. After they had reached a place ot 
comparative safety from pursuit, near their villages, they made a halt 
to hunt and left their prisoner at their camp, having placed him on 
his back, contining his wrists with stout thongs of raw hide to saj)- 
lings, and his legs raised at a considerable elevation and tastened to a 
small tree. After they had been gone a short time, by his great 
strength he released himself from their contiuement, took the twt> 
small pieces of venison then in the camp for his supply ot food, and 
without any weapons he started for the Big Muskingum settlement. 
The Indinr.s pursued him, but he evaded tlieir search, and after nine 
days of wandering he came to the garrison of Wolt creek mills on 
the Big Muskingum river, nearl}' luiked and famished. He soon re- 
covered his strength and returned to his tamily. 

About the year 1797, he, with his family, removed from this county 
and settled in the valley of Big Hocking, Ohio, near the town of Ath- 
ens, where he became a valuable and useful citizen, respected for his 
moral worth and good practical judgment. He was elected to and 
tilled the office of trustee in the College of Athens with ability. For 
many years he was a member of the M. E. Church and zealous in the 
discharge of Christian duties. He there ended his days in 1814, aged 
47 years. His widow died at that place on the 15th of September, 
18o4, aged 70 years, 7 months and 7 days. 

The nine children born to them, we understand, are all dead. Ot 
their descendants, we are wholly uninformed. Thus it is many times 
that the descendants of a generation are lost in the onward course of 
time. 

In the spring ot 1794 a party of Indians surprised the family of Mr. 
Armstrong, residing in the narrows opposite to the head ot Blenner- 



ARMSTRONG, CAPT. JAMES NEAL. 33 

hassett Inland, then known as Backus Island, in this county. Mr. 
Armstrong and his wife and two children were murdered and scalped 
and three of the children were carried away prisoners. What he- 
came of them we have never heen able to ascertain. The attack upon 
this family and the blocKly tragedy attending the same was the last 
of the Indian depredations in this county of which we have any cor- 
rect knowledge. Yet during the Indian war upon the frontier settle- 
ments, many tragic scenes of cruelty and suffering were enacted, of 
which no accounts have been given so as to tix with certainty the 
names of the sutferers or the dates of their occurrence. 

In closing this chaj)ter we would state that much has heen omitted, 
owing to not having proper data tor the statements to rest upon as 
tacts. 

Before any permanent settlements were made in this county,or in the 
territory which composed it, Capt. James Neal, witii a [larty of men, 
descended the Monongahela and Ohio rivers in the fall of 1785, to 
the Little Kanawlia river. Their purpose when starting was to go to 
Kentucky. But having landed on the soutli side of the Little Ka- 
nawha, about a mile from its mouth, and likeing its location, they con- 
cluded to encamp there. During the winter of 1785 and 1786 they 
erected a block-house, which was afterwards known in the history of 
this county as Neafs Station. This was the first block-house and sta- 
tion built in this county. Between that date and 1796 several block- 
houses were built in this county, as well as on the opposite side of 
the Ohio river in the county of Washington. These houses became 
the place of rendezvous of the few iidiabitants who liad settled here, 
while the Indian war was qarried on, up to the year 1795, when the 
treaty of peace was made at Greenville, Ohio, after the victories of 
General U'ayne. 

As intimately connected with and forming a starting point in the 
history of the first settlement made in this county, before its organi-' 
zalion, we will here state that Capt. James Neal, as a deputy survey- 
or of Samuel Hanway, the surveyor of Monongalia county, in the 
spring of 1783, surveyed the settlement right and pre-emption claim 
of Mr. Alexander Parker, of Pittsburg, Pa., assignee of Mr. Robert 
Thornton, to the land on which the city of Parkersburg is nowToca- 
ted, as also other settlement rights within the boundaries of this coun- 
ty. Being thus acquainted with the surveys and titles to the lands 
on the northeast side of tlie Little Kanawha river, is probably the 
reason why he afterward made his settlement and erected his block- 
house and station on the south side of the river, as above stated. 

In the preceding chapters of these historic sketches we took the 
reader far back in the eighteenth century, to the House of Burgesses 
and its colonial records, at the city of Williamsburg, Va., in the year 
1738 — the time when, in answer to the wants and demands of the peo- 
ple, the counties of Augusta and Frederick were set ofi and formed, 



34 L'RIEF REVIEW, 

from its vnst wilderness territory, and the residue of that vast western 
wilderness territory was dechired to be the "District of West Augus- 
ta." Then, l)rietly, we sketched tiie shnv progress of settlenioiits west- 
ward, amid dangers, privations and suUerings, as the years passed on; 
with the divisions and sub-divisions of this vast wildernessiuto coun- 
ties, up, through and over the Allegheny Mountains, and down their 
western slo[)es, to the waters leading to the great Mississippi Valley, 
as the unfoldini^ necessities of tliosc years demanded. Also we briefly 
reviewed the trouble arising from the claims of the European Govern- 
ments in this country, and the policy pursued by them for- maintaiu- 
ing their rigbts ot discovery, by alliances made with the Indians in- 
habiting the then vast wilderness; together with tlie policy adopted by 
the House of Burgesses, under colonial re})resentatives, in settling and 
surveying these heavy, dense forests of her western domain. 

Our object being to group hi the miiid of the reader the slow pro- 
gress made, the many dangers, difficulties, privations and sufferings 
endured b}- those bold, hardy and enterprising pioneers ot the eight- 
eenth century, who penetrated and passed these mountain fastnesses 
and made liomes tor themselves and tlieir posterity in the wilds of 
this great inland world, known as the J^istrict of West Augusta. 

Ha^ving thus presented this bird's-eye view, and tiie many troubles 
interwoven along the pathway, Ave now come to the tirst individual 
settlers and settlements in this, which, years afterwards, became Wood 
couuty. To go back and get the names of many of the first settlers 
iu what is now VVood county and the exact dates of their settlements, 
is a task which cannot now be fully accomplished. Even those whose 
names and posterities have come down to us, it will be a ditlicult un- 
dertaking to be exact and do them full justice. They have long since 
passed from earth away to that undiscovered bourne, their history un- 
written, and the daily "struggles through which they passed, to remain 
untold. These difliculties are further enhanced by the fact that the de- 
scendants of these early pioneers, to a great extent, have lost the dates 
and the traiiitiooary traces of their progenitors, which go back to those 
distant years, in the history of our county or its first settlements. In 
addition to these difficulties we may also add that many of the tirst settlers 
have passed away, leaving no descendants to perpetuate their names, or 
chronicle the events in their earthly pilgrimage. The stirrinij events in 
in their lives, with their sympaties and cherished hopes are gone to the 
dark shades of forgetfulness. 



CIEIiL^'TEK/ VI. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT. 



While ensTajjed in revising these sketches and reviewinsr the brief out- 
line pages of our history, with many of the names of friends of other 
years, we have felt how unreal are the remembrances of earth. The 
ever-present is fading and forever disappearing in the past, and the past 
is soon buried and forgotten in the charnel-house ot oblivion — the dream- 
less abode of the untold and unnumbered myriads of earth; those whose 
days have been spent, and whose active energies no longer appear upou 
the theatre of time, but have passed beyond its curtains to the shoreless 
unknown. 

Owins to these circumstances and considerations, our best efforts (o 
make up and present a history of those early years of the settlements 
here made, and give faithful mementoes of those who broke through the 
barriers of the wihierness and opened up homes for themselves, and as- 
sisted in the formation of settlement?, will of necessity be im]>erfeet and 
may in some cases subject the writer to errors. These deficiencies and 
errors will most cheerfully and readily be corrected when pointed out. 

Again, in speaking of, and referring to those early settlers and the me- 
mentoes we may give of them, dates will not always follow in chronolog- 
ical order. VV^e shall speak of thera generally as associated together in 
neighborhood^, thus parsing from point to point in these early settle- 
ments, madf' from time to time. Tlie original boundaries ot Wood county 
being very large at the time ol its first formation, in 1800, and remained 
so tor upwards of thirty years, causing us in these chapters to speak of 
those whose residences are now outside of our present county bounda- 
ries, though during their lives they were included in and were citizens ot 
this county. The present inhabitants of this county, many of them, 
have but a limited idea of the territory once embraced in Wood county. 



36 THE FAMILY OF CAPT. NEAL, 

There were no permanent settlements made in what was or now is 
Wood county while the same was embraced in and formed a part of Mo 
nongalia county, thou;;h in those years several "tomahawk" rif*hts were 
made and entered. The peraons making "tomahawk" claims were gen- 
erally hunters and trappers, and generally sold their claims or tomahawk 
titles. After the devision of Monongalia county and the formation of 
Harrison (named after J3enjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia), 
out of its narthwestern portion, numerous entries and settlement were 
made on the Ohio river. 

From the best information we have been able to obtain of the first set- 
tler in the county is that of Capt. James Neal. He had been a citizen of 
Green county, in that portion of Pennsylvania which had been supposed 
to belong to the colony of Virginia. Capt. Neal had served his country 
faithfully during the War of the Revolution, as a captain, and had re- 
ceived an honorable discharge from the Continental :irmy, and had been 
paid for his services in the Continental currency of those times and re- 
turned to his home in Greene county. 

The lirst knowledge we have of Capt James Neal being in any portion 
of this county is in the spring of 1783, when, as a deputy-surveyor for 
Samuel Hanway, surveyor of the county of Monongalia (which at that 
time included all the territory of this county), he surveyed for Alexan- 
der Parker, Esq., of Pittsburgh, the "tomahawk" entry and pre-emption 
right, made by Mr. Robert Thornton, which had been sold and assigned 
to said Parker, of the lands on which the present city of Parkersburg is 
now situated. This "tomahawk" entry was made by Mr. Robert Thorn- 
ton in 1773, while the territory of this county formed part of the District 
of West Augusta. (A more full account of this entry, &c., will be given 
in a future chapter on Parkersburg). 

In relation to Capt. James Neal, we are informed by his descendants 
that he was of Irish descent, and that the original name was O'Neal. At 
the commencement ot the Revolutionary War, for reasons satisfactory 
to himself, he dropped the from his name, and ever after wrote his 
name and was known as James Neal. 

Capt. James Neal finding himself, as others who had served their coun- 
try in that day, comparatively poor, and being a man of great energy of 
character, he, for the purpose of bettering his condition, in the fall of 
1785, with a party of men, left that county tor the purpose of looking 
out and securing a home in the State of Kentucky. In a flat-boat he 
and his party descended the Monongahela and Ohio rivers to the mouth 
of the Little Kanawha, and ascen4ed that river a short distance and 
landed on the south side of that stream. He here encamped and exam 
ined the country around, and being well satisfied, concluded to make it 
his future home. During that fall (1785), he and his party erected a 
block-house, which was afterwards known in the history of VVestern Vir- 
ginia by the name of Neal's Station. For many years thereafter, this 
station became an important place of safety from the raids of the lu- 



THEIR SETTLEMEN^T, I 37 

(lians while on their [jredatory war-paths against the settlements of West- 
ern and Northwestern Virginia. Ilere the early settlers to this county, 
during the Indian War, recreated and took up their residence and dwelt 
in safety, while the traveler, passing throug^i or visiting the county, 
sou'^ht it also as a place of safety and protection. After clearing some 
land an<l m iking other necessary improvements at the station, he, in the 
spring of I78t), returned to Green county, in Pennsylvania. 

For the purpose of giving the reader a clear idea of Capt. James Neal 
and his family, we shall here insert a portion of his private history. Early 
in the winter of ITS-i-o (before his coming to this county as stated above) 
8oo!i after the birth of his youngest son, the late James II. Xeal of this 
county, Capt. Xeal was made to mourn the death of his excellent wife. 
Her maiden name was Hannah Harden (a sister of the late Col. John 
Harden of Kentucky, who lost his life by the treachery of the Indians, 
while engaged as a Cmnmisssioner of the United t^tates Government in 
negotiating a treaty of peace with them). By this marriage he was the 
parent of six children, three sons and three daughters. The names of 
his sons were Henry, John and .Tames Harden ; his daughters' names 
were Hannah, who intermarried with Col. Hugh Phelps, late of this 
county; Nancy, who intermarried with Mr. Daniel Rowell, who, with his 
family, reside<i in this county for many years, and then removed to the 
far West; and Catherine, who intermarried with Mr. Joseph McCoy. 
They, after residing in this county a few years, removed to the territory 
of Indiana. Of them and their descendants we have no definite knowledge. 

On the return of C'apt. James Xeal to Green county, Pennsylvania, 
in the summer of 178G, he sometime during that year, married his second 
wife, Miss Mary Phelps, a sister of Col. Hugh Phelps, his son-in-law. 
Early in the spring of 1787, Capt. James Neal, with his family and all 
his children, both single and married, moved to the station and became 
permanent settlers in this county. Under these circumstances we have 
placed Captain James Neal as the first permanent settler, and the one 
who openeil up the way for the future settlements in this county to be 
successfully commenced during the troubles attending the Indian war. 

His life showeil him to be endowed with great energy and enterprise, 
possessing a noble and generous disposition, courteous in liis bearing, 
and charitable in the bestowment of favors. His great experience caus- 
ed him to be looked up to as counsellor and leader in the settlement. — 
He held the oflice of Justice of the Peace while this territory was cm- 
braced in Harrison county, \vith a license to solemnize the rites of mat- 
rimony among those desiring to form that sacred relation in life. Also, 
in addition to the above, he was commissioned Captain of the Frontier 
Rangers, for the defense and safety of these border settlements. He 
soon had his children with their families severally settled around and 
near him, so as to be in reach of the station in times of danger. On the 
ItUh of January, 17t'l, a daughter was born to him l»y his second wife, 
whom he named after her mother, Mary, being among the first white 



38 » JOHN NEAL. 

diiltlren born between Grave Creek and Point Pleasant, in *he State of 
Airirinia. In ITiH) he mourned tlie death ot his second wife, who wa3 
buried near the station, on the banks of the Little Kanawha river. 

After this sad and mehincholy event in his liistory, he measurably re- 
tired from the active duties of public life. He took no active part in 
the organization of the County Count, in 1800. The early records of 
the Court show that he was appointed Commissioner for the examina- 
tion of surveyors, as to their qualifications for that oflice, and he was 
also appointed to the performance of other important duties in the 
county. From what we have been able to learn, he devoted much 
care and attention to the raising and education of his infant daughter, 
Mary. She inherited an active, itiquiring mind, and its mental unfoM- 
ings gave him pleasure On the 25th of March, 1811, slic was uniteil 
in marriage wiih Mr. Scarlet Q. Foley,, and became the mother of a 
large family of children. She died at the home place which her father 
had given to her, two and a half mil^s South of Parkersburg, on the 1st 
day of September, 1870, in the eightieth year of her age. The author 
of these sketches is indebted to her tor much information, as to the early 
settlers of this county. 

In closing this brief notice of Capt. James Neal and his eventful life, 
much might be said and written of him as filling up a wide space in the 
early settlement of this county. His active energies and enterprise in 
meeting the wants and overcoming the difficulties and privations attend- 
ant upon the first settlement of this county, then known as the wilder- 
ness of the far West, surrounded with a savage foe. secured for him the 
respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. In February. 1822, he died 
at his residence, on his place, at Neal's Station, honored by a large cir- 
cle of relations and friends, in the 85th year of his ago, and his remains 
were interred in what is now known as Tavenner's graveyard. 

In the preceding chapter we gave a brief account of the tragic death 
of Captain James Neal's eldest son, Henry Neal, by theTndians, on the 
Little Kanawha river, opposite the Burning Spring's, then in this coun- 
ty. His death, and that of Mr. Triplet, at that time, and under such 
circumstances, caused a deep gloom to fall over the settlement, and led 
to greater caution on the part of the few inliabitants. His memory has 
been perpetuated by the descendants of Captain Neal, by honoring them 
wit}i his name. 

Mr. Neal Rowell, a son of Daniel Rowell, remained in this county for 
some years after the removal of his father and family to the Western 
country. He studied medicine under the late Dr. Creel, of this county. — 
After completing his medical studies he married in Kentucky,and settled 
near Florence, Alabama. In the practice of medicine he was successful, 
and he has accumulated a iiandsome fortune. He resides at his country 
residence, three miles from Florence, which he has named "Alban 
Woods,'" where he is spending the evening of a well spent life, in peace 
and tranquility. 



FAMILY OF JOHN NEAL. 39 

The late Mr. John Neal, (the father of several of the Neal fiimilied in 
ParkersburT;), was the second son Df Capt. James NeaK He was born 
in Green county, Pa., the lOtli of May, 1776. At tU.e time his father, 
with his family, settled at NeaTs Station, in this county, he was a youth 
of eleven years. Like others born amid the stirring events of the War 
of the Revolution, he inherited the self-reliant spirit of those times, 
which gave to him firmness of purpose and decision of character — a self- 
reliance in his own energies and enterprises in meeting the vicissitudes 
of life. In 179(3 he was united in marriage with Miss Ephlis Hook, a 
half-sister to the late Mr. Charles Bryant, of Wood county. (She was 
generally known by the name of Aunt Eva Neal), To them thirteen 
children were born; one of them died in infancy. The others lived to b? 
married and settled in life and have tamilies. 

We will append the tollowiiiii; hriet record of these several children ; 

First, Hannali, horn 31st May, 1797, was married to Abram Sam- 
uels, Esq. To them twelve children — (eeven sons and live daughters) 
were born; all married aud have families, excepting the two young- 
est daughters. The oldest of these daughters is the wite of T. J. 
Cook, Es(j. Mr. Abranj Samuels died in the summer of 1852. His 
widow died on tlje 1 1th of July. 1873. 

Second, Elizabeth, Ijorn the 7tli of January, 1799, married 13th of 
February, 1815, to Mr. Uei'rick Pennybaker, who dieil tiiat year.leav- 
mg one child. She remained his widow until her death, the 12th of 
March, 1875. , Miss Hannah, their daughter, was united in marriage 
to Geo. W. Kincheloe, Esq . on the 13th ot June, 1837. To them 
two daughters vveix* born. He died in the Spring of 1840. Miss Lu- 
cy, the ehlest, is the present wife ot the Hon. J. M. Jackson, and Miss 
lone is the wife of P. D. Gambrill, Esq. 

Third, Henry Hartlin Neal, vva;> born the 20th of October, 1800. — 
1)1 his 3'oun.g manhood he settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, where he mar- 
ried Miss Safford, a sister of the hite Dr. E. T. Saliord. Ot this fam- 
ily we have no delinite knowletlge, exce[)tingone son, the Hon.IIen- 
I'v Sattbrd Neal, now a member ot Congress from the Irontoii Dis- 
trict, in the State of Oldp. Mr. Henry Xeal still resides in Gallipolis, 
Ohio, and is aUo engaged in active buftinese. 

Fourtli, Cincinnatus James Neal, born the 1st of January. 1803, 
was nnii'ried to Miss Mary Ann Collins, daughter of Mr. Thomas 
Collins, of Cumberland, Md., on the 24th ot February, 183ti. To 
them seven children have been born, and all are married excepting 
tJie youngest. He died on the 25th of Auo;ust, 1809. 

Fifth, Daniel Rowell Neal, born the 18th ot May, 1805. llisiirst 
wife was Miss Caroline Kiger, by whom he had live children, now 
living and married, with families. His second wite was Miss Eliza- 
beth Beeson, only daughter c^f the late Jonas Beeson, Esq., by whom 
he has one son, named in honor of himself, and who is a practicing 
lawver in this citv. We will here add that Mr. Daniel R. Neal has 



40 JOHN SEAL. 

been frequently honored by the citizens of tlje county with a seat in 
the Legishiture of Va., and from 1856 to 1860, lie represented this 
district in the Senate of the State. He is still engaged in active bus- 
iness in the city of Parkersburg. 

Sixth, John Neal, born the 2d of October, 1807, was married and 
settled in the Big Kanawha Valley, and is now a resident of Lynch- 
burg, Va. 

Seventh, Hugh Phelps Neal, born the 11th of December, 1809, was 
married to Miss Fetzer, to whom three children have been born. The 
eldest is the wite of C H. Shattuck, Esq., the present Sherifif of this 
county. 

Eighth. Orena, born the 1st day of April, 1812, was married to the 
late Mr, James D. Woodyard, on the oOth of January, 1834. To 
them several sons and daughters were born. He died some twenty 
years ago, and the family has settled in the Western States. 

Ninth, Lawrence Perry Neal, born 24th of April, 1814, was mar- 
ried to Miss Mary Hall falbott, on the 9th of December, 1841. To 
them five children have been born, three of whom are married. His 
eldest son, Lawrence Talbott Neal, studied law, and settled in Chili- 
cothe, Ohio, and has been highly honored by the people of that coun- 
ty and Congressional District. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney, 
also to the House of Representatives, and twice elected to a seat in 
the Congress of the United States, being at the time the youngest 
member of the House. For several years past, Mr. L. P. Neal has 
tilled the ofiice ot Clerk of the Circuit Court of this county. 

Tenth, George B. Neal, born the 2d ot February, 1816, was united 
in marriage with Miss Caroline McKiuley. To them six children 
have been born. They still reside in the city of Parkersburg. 

Eleventh, Lucy Harriet, whose first husband was Mr. Abraham 
Truman, a nephew of the late Wm. Tefl:t. To them three children 
were born. Her second husband is Elias Waym^n, of Bel lair, in the 
State of Ohio. 

Twelfth, Mary Catherine, born on the 25^th of June, 1823,was mar- 
ried to Elihu Reed, of Jackson county, where she has since resided. 

From the foregoing, it will readily appear that the children,gracd- 
children, and great grand-children ot Mr. John Neal and liis wife, 
Aunt Eve, are very numerous. But we return to our account of him 
as connected with this county in its early history: 

On the 12th of May, 1800, he took his seat upon the bench of the 
County Court, under a commission granted by his Excellency, James 
Monroe, Governor of the State of Virginia, and ablv filled that office 
until his death. From 1807 to 1809, He was High Sheriti of the 
county. Li 1809 he was elected a Representative of the county to the 
House of Burgesses of Virginia, and served the county in that oflBce 
two consecutive terms. He was esteemed for his practical good 
sense and integrity of purpose, in all the transactions of life, whether 



JOHN NEAL. 41 

the same wa? of ;i piirate or public nature. He is remembered as a man 
of great energy and J'urce of character, of a sound, discriminating judg- 
ment, exerting a healthy iniluence in the community. In the full me- 
ridian of his maidiood years, during the 'sickly season," on the 14th of 
October, 1823, he died, hearing his large family of children to the care 
of his widow. She faithfully performed her duty, and raised her chil- 
dren to habits of industry and economy, and educated for the active 
duties of life. On the 27th of June, 1^02, sue died, in the 73d year 
of her age. Their honorable remains repose, side by side, beneath a 
monument erected to their memory, by their children, in the city ceme- 
tery, on the banks of the Little Kanawha river. 

The voungest child of James Neal, bv his first wife, was the late James 
Hardin Neal, Esq. He was three years of age at the time his father 
moved his family to Neal's iStation, in 1787. Here, in the wilderness of 
this county, he spe.fit his early years. Here, his youth, his manhood, down 
to old age, was spent, honorably filling a wide space in the early history 
of this county, and in this portion of the State.' By studious habits and 
unwearied application he had become well educated, and acquired a good 
knowledge of the general literature of his day. Possessing a fine critic- 
al turn of mind, he was appreciated us a mau of culture, taste, and gen- 
eral information. 

Having spent some years in the Clerks oflice of Wood County, as 
deputy for Mr. John Stokeley, he was elected Clerk of the County Court 
in 1806, and continued in that office until September, 1831. He was al- 
so appointed Clerk (if the Sujterior (uiurt ot this county, and continued 
in that office until his death in 1850. Occupying these responsible and 
honorable positions in the county for nearly half a century, in its ear- 
ly history, gave hiui :i wide reputation among the eav\y settlers of 
Western Virginia. Owing to the position he thus occupied, and the 
ability he brought to bear in the performance of his official duties, , 
caused iiiia, duriuii' those early years ot our history, to be extensively 
known among gentlemen of the legal profession, and the leading men 
of the western country. 

During his life he was made to mourn|the death of three companions. 
He was united in marriage with his first wife. Miss Harriet Ncale 
<laughter ot the late Thoma.s Neale, on {ho Uth of May, 1810. At 
her death she left to his care four children. His oldest (huightcr. 
Miss Virginia, became the first wife of the late John R. Murdoch. 
Esq. She left at her death, in 1848, to the care of her husTiand, sev- 
en children. Dr. James N. Murdoch, of Parkersburg, (h'uggist, being 
the eldest. His eldest son, Tliomas, settled and married at Mt. Ver- 
non, Ohio. At the time of his death, in 1852, he left tliree children. 
As a local preacher iri the M. E. Church, he acquired considerable 
celebrity. Miss Harriet, his second daughter, was the first wife of 
Mr. Arthur Kelly, of Marietta, Ohio. S"he died in 1^38. The late 
Mr. Harden Neal, his youngest son by his first wife, was unite<l 'w 



42 JAMES HARDIN XEAL, COL. Uir.U PilELPS. 

uiari'iajgc to Miss ElizuUotli Collins, of Md. At the time of his deutb, 
in 185r>, he left to his wife five children. 

On the 21st of Januitrv, 1828, Mr. Neal was married to his second 
wife, Miss Marv Ann U'ells, daughter of the late Robert Wells, one 
of the early settlers of this county. At the time of l)er death she 
left to his care three sons, James, Richard and Hobert. Richard died 
while a youth. James becam(! the successor of his father, in the 
(Jlerk's OtHce of the Circuit Superior Court, in this county, and dis- 
charged its duties until his death in 18f)2. Robert has settled in Jja- 
fayette county, Mo., where he inarriel a daui^liter ot the late Mr- 
W yatt Lewis, formerly ot tliis county. 

The third wife of Mr. James H. Nenle was Miss Ann Beard, eldest 
daughter of Joseph and Mary Beard, of Loudon county, Va. She 
was a lady ot suj>erior mind, of fine educational endowments, possess- 
ing by nature quick perceptive powers and strength of intellect, well 
calculated to adorn the highest positions in society. At tlie time of 
her <leath she wasjthe mother of seven cliildren, only three of whom 
are now living — Mr. Joseph B. Neal, of Parkersburg. and his two 
sisters. The mortality among the children of Mr. James H. Neal has 
been great. Ot the fourteen, only tour are now living, and their de- 
scendants are not very numerous in this county. 

. Among the enterprising young men witli families, who first came 
and sought homes in this county, few, if any, exerted a more salutary 
and controlling influence and commanded more universal respect 
than Col. Hugh Phelps. Of his parentage, we have no delinite in- 
formation, but he is repoi«ted as being a native of Pa. He was born 
on the 14th of February, 1766, and was united in marriage with Miss 
Hannah Neal, daughter of Capt. James Neal, on the 15th of March, 
1787. She was born on the loth of November, 1768. Li company 
with Captain James Neal and family, he settled at Neal's Station, in 
this county, early in the Spring of 1787, 

, In person. Col. Hugh Phelps was tall, well built for activity and 
strength, with fine features, and intellectual expression of counte- 
nance, naturally social and urbane in liis general intercoui'se and hab- 
its. To tiiese he united a generous disposition, and a benevolent 
heart. Possessing tiiese (qualities of mind and heart, he was calcula- 
ted to be a representative man, and to exercise a contruUinginfluence 
among his associates in a new country, 

Hissjiirit of enterprise was active and continually exercised in put- 
ting fortli efforts to advance the imblic interests and welfare of the 
various settlements in the county, for the purpose of develoj^ing its 
natural resources, and securing their advantages. He filled the office 
of Presiding Justice at the time the county was organized, on Marcli 
10 h, 1800. As such he labored to give disfuity and character to the 
bench in all their proceedings. Li 1802 ho filled the office of High 



HOT,. iii«;ii PiJELPS, _ 48 

Sherift" of the county, aijd tlu- late Col. Thomas Taveniier was liis dep- 
uty. During seveial sossioiis of the Ilou^ie of Burgesses he represented 
the comity in the Legislature of the I'^tate. In all of these otlices he 
proved himself efficient and worthy of the contidence of the puljlic. He 
waa also the tirst Colonel of the militia of the county. In organizingthe 
same, he inspired in the breasts of the tpilitia a spirit of emulation and 
patriotic devotion to their country. 'J'hese labors were not lost. Con- 
sidering the sftarse population of the countiy, no portion of Virginia 
contributed more men in the war of 1812-15, and did more active ser- 
vice in that war than men froqi VV^ood county. Her citizens are found 
from Norfolk, in the East, to the Lakes in the Northwest, battling with 
Great Britain and her Indian allies lor the rights of American free- 
dom. 

To Col. Hugh Phelps and his amiable wife ten children were born in 
this county, three of whom died in infancy. Their eldest daaghter,Miss 
Briscilla, was united in marriage with Mr. Thomas Creel, on the 14th of 
October, 18U4. (An account of this family will be found in our sketches 
of the descendants of the late Mr. George Creel, of this county.) Their 
second daughter, Miss Ilarmah, was united in mariiage with the late 
Mr. Mason Foley, Esq., of this county, on the 20th day of September. 
1810. To them thirteen children were born, of whom only fi/earenow 
living. Many of the descendants of Mr. Mason Foley are now living 
in this county, and some of them in Doddridge county. (Of the Foley 
family, who came to this county from Loudon county, Va., in 1807, we 
may hereafter give an account.) Their eldest son, the late Mr. John 
Phelps, was iinited in marriage with .Miss Eleanor Kincheloe, daughter 
of the late Major Robert Kincheloe. To them thirteen children were 
born; seven of whom died while vouns, tlie reriiaitjing si.x are still living, 
married, and have families; four of whom reside in this county,and two 
in the iState of Ohio. Our townsman, Mr. Bobert K. Phelps, on the 
6th of Sept., 1838, was united in marriage with Miss Minerva Parken- 
son. To them seven sons and two daughters, now living, have .been 
born; four of whom are married and^have children. Mrs. Elizabeth, the 
second child of Mr. John Phelps, was married to Geo. L.IIarwood on 7th 
April, 1836. To them six children were born. He died in 1877. Mr. 
George Phelps; of Claysville, the second son living, was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Sarah Creel, daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Creele. 
A notice of them is given in the account of that family. Miss Mary, the 
second daughter living, was united in marriage, on tiie 3d of February, 
1848, to Thomas H. Creel, son of Thomas Creel, deceased. They re- 
side at the old homestead place of his father, and his grand-father, the 
late Mr. George Creel, known in the early history of this county as 
''Bacon Hall." To them nine children have been born, and at this time 
all reside with their parents. Lewis and James married sisters. Miss 
Julia and Miss Louisa Tavlor. Thev reside at this time in the State of 
Ohio. 



44 COL. HUGH PHELPS. 

' Mr, John Phelps was a man of gentlemanly bearing, and highly re- 
spected as a citizen, neighbor and friend. He died in 1£54. His wid- 
ow died in the winter of 1875. 

Mr. Jetierson Phelps, the second son living, of Col. Hugh Pliolps,was 
born the 26th of March. 1801. He wa.s united in raarriaore with Miss 
Harriet Armstrong, of Harrison county, on the 27th of May, 1824. Af- 
ter completing his law studies, he settled in Covington, Ky., where he 
became an eminent practitioner at the bar, and tilled an honorable po- 
sition in the history of that State during his life. He died in 1843. Of 
his family we have no definite knowledge. 

Mr. Henry Phelps, another son, was married to a lady in Kanawha 
county, Va. During his life he was subject to fits, &.c. Of his family 
we have no knowledge. . 

Mr. Hugh Henderson Phelps, the youngest son of Col. Hugh Phelps, 
was born on the 7th of July, 1803. He was united in marriage with 
Miss Mary Ann Kincheloe, daughter of Major Robert Kiiicheloe, on the 
12th of August, 1824. To them five sons and three daughters were born, 
who lived to be grown and settled in life. They have all removed from 
this county, and of their present condition our knowledge is very limit- 
ed. Mr. Phelps died at Claysville, in the winter of 1875, and his widow 
died in Jackson county, in the summer of 1876. 

' Miss Delilah Phelps, the youngest daughter of Col. Hugh Phelps, was 
born on the 16th of March, 1^6, and was married to Mr. John J. Suth- 
erland on the 15th of May, 1826. She died about the year 1844, leav- 
ing several children, of whom we have no definite information. '(The 
Sutherland family were among the early settlers of this county, and at 
one time were quite numerous. The mother of John Sutherhuid was a 
sister to Col. Barnet H. Foley, of this county. They resided on Worth- 
ington Creek about three miles East of Parkersburg.) 

In closing this sketch of Col. Hugh Phelps, we would say that in his 
life time he extensively engaged in land speculations, and had accumula- 
ted a large landed estate in the various parts of the country. Dying 
suddenly, during what has been termed the -'sickly season," on the 6th 
of September, 1823, and leaving his estate in an unsettled condition, 
and no one assuming the necessary care and oversight of the same, it 
was nearly all lost to the heirs of the estate. His widow soon followed, 
flying on the 15th day of September, 1824. Their remains repose in 
the family graveyard, on tlu^ farm, which soon after their deaths, be- 
came the property of the late Col. Thomas Tavenner. Before closing 
this brief account of Col. Hugh Phelps, we would say that among the 
early settlers of this county he had two brothers, named Elijah and 
John, who left numerous descendants,, of whom we have but a limited 
knowledge, also two sisters, the second wife of Capt. James Neal, and 
Mrs. Barnes. The descendants ofMrs. Barnes are very numerous in 
this and Wirt counties. But we have not the. means of getting the nec- 
essary information for furnishine: a correct record of them. In the on- 



COL. HUGH PHELPS. 45 

ward tlii>-ht ot yeai':^, the records of tlic families of the past generation 
heeanie lost and forgotten among their descendants. 

While trying to review the hi.story of the early settlers ol thiscoim- 
tv, and finding how few mementos have been made ot those who 
once were active upon life's great theatre, a feeling of melancholy 
and sadness comes over our spirits. Like bubbles passing down a 
stream, we are seen for a short time, then burst and sink away into 
the vast ocea'i ot the past. The anxious, throbbing heart of to-day 
is soon stilled in death, and is lost in forgetful n'ess — like a shadow,lie 
declineth, and is gone forever; and the few who treasured his niemo- 
ry will soon sink beneatii the same oblivious wave, leaving but few, 
if any, traces behind them. Such is and has been the histor}' of our 
race along thepatliway of time. 

In the excitement in this county arising from the unsuccessful ex- 
pedition of Burr and Blennerhassett. in the fall and winter ot 1806, ' 
the first efforts for their arrest was made by Col. Hugh Phelps. At 
that date fie was Colonel of the regiment in this county, and under 
the proclamation of President Thomas Jefferson, he called out a por- 
tion of the militia of the county tor the purpose of arresting them. — 
in the Life of Blennerhassett, written and published by the Hon. W. 
H. Safford, in 1850. we copy tiie folhnving paragraph, m relation to 
Col. Hugli Phelps: (Blennerhassett will form a future chapter.) 

•'During the course of the evening Col. Hugh Phelps returned from 
his tour across the country. (From Pt. Pleasant to ParkersburgV — 
Li tliis unexpected arrival, the young men, (Morgan Neville and VV. 
Robinson, Jr.,) had new cause for anxiety and alarm. They had con- 
gratulated tliemseives upon their successful defeat of the functiona- 
ries of law, whicli they attributed mainly to their superior tact in 
mystifying their judges and intimidating tlieir accusers; but here was 
one who could not be duped by sophistical reasoning, or swerved 
from his duties by fear of consequences. Although dressed in the 
usual style of the backwoodstnan of that day, the careless manner in 
which he wore his garl), added gracefulness to a form both attractive 
and commanding. They recognized in him an individual ot physical 
as well as intellectual superiority, and, therefore, wisely concluded to 
assume a different bearing from that they before had observed before 
their captors and Judges. 

Li a thoughtful and classic attitude, he surveyed the destruction of 
the premise's, and the evident marks of bacchanalian revelry with 
which the party under his command had disgraced theniselves; then, 
turning upon them a look of withering rebuke, he spoke in such terms 
of indignation as caused them to shrink with fear and trepidation. — 
'•Shame, men I'" he exclaimed '■'■ Shame on such eondwir You have 
disgraced your district and the cause in which you are concerned.'' 

To these young men and to Mrs. Blennerhassett he was courteous 
and obliging; assisting them in their departure from the Island.. 



CEC^IPTER. "VII. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT, 



III the beautiful valley ot the Ohio there are but few, if any, river 
bottoms of laud which excel in richness of soil the one known a.s 
Belleville. It is pleasantly ^situated on the south side of the river in 
this county, commencing some sixteen miles below the city of Park- 
ersbufg, opposite the mouth of the Big Hocking river, and extends 
down about live miles, and contains some two thousand acres ot land. 

Lee, the largest creek in the county, and draining its southern 
portion, empties into the Ohio through this bottom dividing it into 
nearly equal parts. The lands upon the creek are valuable for all 
farming purposes, heading in the limestone ridge, separating this and 
Jackson counties. Much might be written and said in favor of tiiis 
portion of our county, as to the richness of its soil, and its adoption 
to all agricultural purposes. 

In the year 1771, the time when Gen. George Washington descend- 
ed the Ohio and located his lands in the District of West Augusta, Jie 
located and partially surveyed, and afterwards had patented to him 
a part of this rich and beautiful bottom. In after years, when hi.- 
survey was made according to its calls in the patent, it was found 
that the back lines of the survey passed through the central part of 
this bottom, below Lee Creek. This creek was named after Mr. Da- 
vid Lee, a trapper and hunter, wlio before this time had his camp up- 
on this creek. He afterwards became a permanent citizen ot this 
county, married and settled on Tjgart Creek, raised a tamily and died 
there, some forty years ago, leaving numy worthy descendants. 

In the year 1782, when the iirm ot Wm. Tilton & Co., of Philadel- 
phia, Pa., located and made their entries of large tracts of land in this 



JOSEPH WOOD. 47 

(then Monongalia) county, amounting to upwards of ninety thousand 
acres, this bo'tom was iiiciu<le<l in their surveys, by a junior patent to 
that of Gen. Washington's. 

In the summer of 1785, while Mr. NVm^Tjiton was at Fort Pitt, (now 
the city of Pittsburg, Pa.,) he formed the acquaintance of the late Hon. 
Judge .Ja&ep h Woo d, ot Marietta, Ohio, then a young man from the 
State of New Jersey. Mr. Wood had by his industry acquired a good 
English education, and by study bad OjUaHfied himself for the profession 
of surveyor and civil engineer. He had left his native town and came 
West for the purpose of joining a company of surveyors, then assem- 
bling at Pittsburg, to survey the public lands Northwest of the Ohio riv- 
er, and South of the Western boundary line of the State of Pennsylva- 
nia, under the Geographical Surveyor of the United States. 

At that period in the history of our country, the Indian tribes of the 
Northwestern territory had begun to show hostility to the frontier set- 
tlers, and had killed and plundered several white traders residing among 
them. Among these was Mr. Martin, a brother-in-law of the Tomlin- 
sons. These hostile proceedings of the Indians rendered the sending of 
surveyors into the wilderness hazardous and inexpedient on the part of 
the Government, Consequently, the surveying expedition was post- 
j)oncd to a future day. 

It was at this time, while Mr. Wood was residing at Pittsburg, with- 
out any permanent employment, that he made the acquaintance of Capt. 
Wm. Tilton, of the firm of Tilton, Gibbs & Co., heavy landholders in 
U'estern Virijinia. Mr. Tilton entered into arrangements with him as 
agent, surveyor, kc, for the colonization and sale of the lands of Tilton, 
Gibbs & Co. Under this agreement the large tract of land at Belleville 
was selected as the place to commence their settlement. 

During the fall of 1785 a suitable boat was built, and under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Wood, was freighted with cattle, farming utensild, etc., with 
such other articles as rai<jht be needed in commencing a new settlement 
at some two hundred miles from where supplies could be procured at 
that time. 

In this boat, Mr. Tilton, with his agent, Mr. VVopd, and four Scotch 
families, as emigrants, with several men hired for the year, left Pitts- 
burg on the '28th day of November, and landed at Belleville on the H3th 
day of December, 1785, (having stopped at Fort Harmar, at the mouth 
of the Big Muskingum, then in course of completion by Major John 
Daughty, of the U.S. Army.) 

('apt. Tilton and his party having landed and secured their boat against 
dangers from ice, &c., their next effort was to select a place and arrange 
for mailing a permanent settlement. A high, dry bottom, on the bank 
of the river, was chosen, and a clearing commenced. From the timber 
cut down they erected a block-house, forty feet by twenty, two stories 
high, convenient to water. Loop holes for musketry were cut in the 
locrg^ thus making the building offensive as well as defensive in times of 



48 Joseph wood. 

datifjer from Indian attack?. Early in January, 1786, the building ^aj- 
completed, and the entire company moved from the boat and took pos- 
session of it a3 their future iiorae. Mr. Wood then laid out a town by 
survey, and gave to it the name ot Belleville. Lots in the town were do- 
nated to actual settlers. The clearing of the lands in and around the 
town was continued, and during the first year about one hundred acre? 
was prepared for cultivation. In the spring of 1786 Capt. Tilton re- 
turned to l^hiladeli)hia, leaving the settlement in charge of Mr. Wood, as 
the sole agent of the company, and the manager of the settlement. Sev- 
eral log houses, for the residence of individual families were erected near 
the block-house, also convenient out-houses for stock, etc. The whole 
were enclosed by pickets, eight or ten feet high, securely planted in the 
earth, thus making it a regular stockade garrison, suthcient for the ac- 
commodation of about two hundred persons, forming an oblong square of 
about three hundred feet along the river front, and extending back al>oat 
one hundred teet. Gates at either end for the admission of teams, etc . 
were securely erected, and a wicket gate in front for descending to the 
river for water and return, was also erected. 

Of the Scotch emigrants with families who first came to Belleville 
with Mr. Wood, and those who came the following spring, we have been 
able to gather onh' the following named persons, viz : Messrs. McDon- 
al, Grreathouse, Tabor, James Pewthewer, Wm. Ingals, Jemerson, An- 
drew McCash, and two single men, F. Andrews and Thomas Gilruth. — 
We are not aware that any of the descendants of these families are now 
residing in this country. 

In the year 1787 this settlement was joined by the following persons : 
viz : Joel and Joseph Dewy, from near Wyoming, Pa.: Stephen Sherod 
and family, from the same place, Malcomb Coleman, with his wife and 
family of sons and daughters, from Carlisle, I'a.; I^eter and Andrew Aii- 
derson, irom above Wheeling, Va. Descendants from these last named 
families are still living in the lower part ot this and Jackson county. — 
We made mention of some of them in the fifth chapter. 

In the spring of 1785, a company of hunters and trappers from the 
vicinity of Wheeling, but formerly trora the Susquehanna river, Pa., took 
possession of an abandoned Indian improvement of about twenty acres, 
above the mouth of Lee Creek, erected a station house and cultivated 
the improvement in corn. This was then known as Flinn's Station. It 
consisted of old Mr. Flinn, a widower, and his two sons, Thomas and 
James, and their families, Mr. Parchment, with his wife and two sons, 
Jacob and .lohn, Mr. John Barnett. \\ho married a daughter of Flinn's. 
and Mr. John McCessack, a single man. The principal occupation of 
these men was hunting and trapping. In 1787 the inhabitants of this 
station moved down to the station at Belleville, thus adding strength, 
safety and protection to the inhabitants of that station against the Indi- 
ans, who had commenced being troublesome by their stealing of horses, 
etc., and threatening the safety of the settlement. 



JOSEPH WOOD. 49 

We have already spoken of Mr. I'oter Anderson. Soon after the 
formation of Wood oonnty, he was commissioned, on the 4th of May, 
1801. and tilled the office of Justice of the Peace, acceptably, until 
his orient aire caused him to resisijn. On hisresiornation, the Rev. Ben- 
jamin Mitchell, an able local minister of Belleville, was comrnission- 
.'(1 and filled that office in tliat vicinity nntil his death in 1834. Mr. 
John Kincheloe, ot Belleville, was the successor of Mr. Mitchell, and 
tilled that office in tliat community nntil the adoption of the constitu- 
tion of 1851. 

Mr. Joseph WWd, the agent of the Tilton lands, was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Margaret Pewthewer, a Scotch lady, a daughter of 
James Pewthewer, one of the first emigrants to that settlement, in 
<ummcr of 1790. Owing to tlie fiict that no person in that.settle- 
)ncnt was authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony, they came 
up to '^Farmer's ('astle," in Belpre. Ohio, where the marriage cere- 
mony was performed by Gen. Betijamiu Tupper, a magistrate of that 
State. In 1791 he moved to Marietta, Ohio. In that place and vi- 
• •inity he resided until his death in 1851, in the 93d year of his age, 
having filled with credit and honor many important offices. His 
dangliter, Miss Agnes, still resides at the homestead place in that city, 
who is in possession of her father's papers. 

Having thus very Ijriefly sketched these facts which have come to 
our knowledge relative to the first settlement made at Belleville, in 
1785, and traced the same down to 1795, the year of the treaty of 
peace with the Indians ot the Northwestern territory, which resulted 
from the victories of Gen. Wayne, in some future chapter we will 
l)riefly notice the individual settlers wdio came to that portion of (Kir 
"•ounty after that date. In doing this, we presume that many per- 
">ons will be omitted for the want of information. We find in tlie 
records of our county many naraes that furnish no data of their com- 
ing, or when they left, or of their pursuits while here. This want of 
correct information we meet with frecjuently while ouleavoring to 
make nj» these sketches. 



CH^P^TEK. "VIII. 



FIRST SSTTLSMSNT, 



Among the citizens and inhabitants of the county, at the present day, 
tliere are but few, if any, remaining, who can rightly appreciate the 
rude character, heroism and worth of many of those noble and fearless 
frontiersmen, who, from the condition of those early times and the sur- 
rounding circumstances of the country and its settlements during the 
last half of the eighteenth century, were employed by the Province 
of Virginia as Rangers, for the purpose of giving notice to, and protect- 
ing the inhabitants of the settlements which were then being extended 
from the Valley of Virginia, west and northwest, to and over the Alle- 
gheny Mountains, to the tributary streams ot the Ohio river. The In- 
dian tribes of the great northwestern territory, from the influences then 
brought to bear upon them by the French and English Governments, 
were a cruel and dangerous foe, then hanging about the skirts of these 
settlements. 

It frequently taxed the wisdom and the limited resources of the House 
of Burgesses of Virginia to successfully provide for the safety and de- 
fence of her citizens who'were then making settlements along the front- 
ier boundaries of her counties. The Rangers thus employed by them 
had to be men who could discover and identify the traces and courses 
()f these Indians in their raids, their manner of attack, their mode of 
warhire, and successfully turn them back, or punish them for their ag- 
gressions. 

Among those employed by the Colonial Government of Virginia as a 
Ranger, tor the protection of her frontier settlements, was Mr. Isaac 
Williams, who spent the last of his years as a citizen of this county. — 
Being one of its first settlers, and for many years occupying a promi- 



ISAAC WILLIAMS, 51 

tient position in this county, we will here give a brief notice of hirn and 
his family, as well as a brief notice of those who succeeded to his estate 
in this county. 

In doing so, however, we iiere acknowledge our indebtedness to the 
sketches made by the bite Dr S. P. Ilildreth, of Marietta, Ohio, for 
many of the facts herein stated. 

Mr. I^SiisLC ^iilJ4iii3_was born in Chester county. Pa., on the 16th of 

duly, 1737. When quite a youth his parents removed with him to 
Winchester, Va., where he grew up to young manhood. He early in 
life displayed great love and aptitude for hunting and trapping. When 
at the age of eighteen years, the Colonial Government of Virginia em- 
ployed him as a Ranger and spy to watch the movements of the Indians 
on the frontier, and ward oft' the dangers from their attacks upon the 
white settlements. In that capacity he served Virginia in that disas- 
trous campaign of Gen. Braddock, in the year 1754. He was also one 
of the liangers who assisted in guarding the first convoy of provisions 
and ammunition to Fort Duquesne, after it had been captured by Gen. 
Forbes,of Pennsylvania, in 1758,an(l who had changed its name to Fort 
Pitt. At that time the western part of the present State of Pennsylva- 
nia was supposed to belong to the Colony of Virginia. The completion 
of the survey of the Mason and Dixon line gave it to that State. 

The following ten years atter, he spent in hunting and trapping on 
the western waters, having descended the Ohio to the Mississippi, and 
ascended the Mississippi to the Missouri river and returned. In 
1768 he conducted his parents over the mountains from Winchester, and 
settled thom on Buttalo Creek, near West Liberty,in what is now Brooke 
county. West Va. In 1769 he accompanied Ebenezer and Jonathan 
Zane in their explorations of the country around Wheeling, Zanesville, 
and other locations, west of the mountains. By his hunting and trap- 
ping excursions he became well acquainted with the topography of the 
Ohio river and its tributaries, and entered several tomahawk rights, 
which he sold. In 1774 he accompanied Governor Dunmore in his In- 
dian expedition against the Shawnees, then at war with the Colonies, un- 
der the leadership of the celebated chieftain. Cornstalk, and was with 
him when he concluded the treaty of peace near Chilicothe, after the 
battle at Pt. Pleasant, under Gen. Lewis, in that year. 

In 1775 he became acquainted with Mrs. Rebecca Martin, at Grave 
Creek, whose husband had been killed by the Indians, on Big Hocking, 
iti 1770, and after a short acquaintance, they were united in marriage. 

She was a daughter of Mr. Joseph Tomlmson, born at Wills" Creek, on 
the Potomac, in the State o'f'Maryland, on the 14th day of February, 
1754. After the death of her first husband, in 1771, she accompanied 
her two brothers, Samuel and Joseph, to Grave Creek, on the Ohio riv- 
er, and was their housekeeper for several years. In 1783 her brothers 
while engaged in trapping at and near the mouth of the Big Muskingum, 
preempted for her a tract of 400 acres of land in Virginia, opposite the 



')2 ISAAC WILLIAMS. 

mouth of the Big Muskingum river, and cleared four acres and erected a 
cabin thereon, and raised a crop of corn during that year. This tract 
of land, owing to its locatien, and the fertility of its soil, has become 
very valuable. The beautiful village of Williarastown forms a part of it. 
while the.residue has been divided into small farms, now in a high state 
of cultivation. 

In 178G, Fort Ilarmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum river, having 
been established and garrisoned by United States troops, on the 26th 
day of March, 1787, Mr. Isaac Williams, with his wife and family, mov- 
ed to and settled on this 400 acre tract belortging to his wife, under the 
preemption laws of V^irginia. Soon after their arrival at the place, his 
wife gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Drusilla. She was the 
only child by this marriage. She lived to become a woman, and was 
united in marriage to John G. Henderson, a son of Alexander Hender- 
son, of Dumfries, Va. "By "him she became the mother of one child, 
which died in infancy. Soon after the death of this child the mother 
cjied, being about twenty years of age. Mr. Jolin G. Henderson came to 
this county in 1797, in company with the late Robert Triplett. Mr. 
Henderson filled important positions in this county for many years after 
its organization. A notice of him and his brothers, who settled here at 
an early day, is reserved for a future chapter. 

After the removal of Mr. Williams to this wilderness farm, he aban- 
doned hunting and trapping as a means of support (only seldom taking 
an excursion as a pastime), and devoted hit; time and attention to this 
farm, making all necessary improvements. Situated opposite to and 
commanding a full view of Marietta and the Big Muskingum river, ir 
soon became a noted and interesting place of retreat, and is now known 
by the name of Williamstown. 

Honesty, industry, prudence and economy gave him prosperity as a 
farmer, and secured for him the respect and esteem of all the early pio- 
neers. Thoughtful and considerate of the welfare and happiness of 
others, his benevolence extended a helping hand to any in want. After 
living on this plantation for thirty-three years, and making it one of the 
most pleasant and productive farms in the country, surrounding himselt 
with the necessary comforts of those early times, making his home the 
mansion of hospitality for his neighbors and friends, as also a resting 
place for the stranger, he died on the 25th of September, 1820, aged 
8-4, having spent an active life, full of years, made up of good deeds, and 
in the enjoyment of a ho[)e of a blessed immortality. 

The first half of his manhood years was mostly devoted to the pro- 
tection of the frontier settlements against the inroads and attacks of the 
Indians in their savage mode of warfare. As a ranger and spy upon 
their war-paths, he had but few, if any equals. lie had made himself 
well acquainted with all their modes of pursuit, attack und retreat. In 
these dangerous expeditions he was frequently the associate of Lewis 



ISAAC WILLIAMS. 5o 

Wetzel, Kerr, and otliers of great notoriety in those years. He was 
eool, thouichtful and courai^eous, and so watchful of his foe as never 
to permit him to gain an advantage or inflict on him a wound. His 
wife possessed tlie same iieroic i:()uratrc and dauntless spiilt, and shar- 
ed with him in the full s\nipathy of his nature. 

In person he was of the medium size, with an upright trame and 
muscular liinhs, features well formed and marked, a niild e.xpresions 
of countenance, with taciturn and quiet manners, securing confidence 
and respect. He with his family, weie huried in a heautiful spot, on 
liis plantation, shaded hy the trees he dearly loved in life. 

After the death of Mrs. Uehecca Williams, this heautiful planta- 
tion descended by devise to the late John A.Kinnard,who luul married 
Miss Mary Tomlinsou, tlie sixth child of Joseph and Elizabeth Tom- 
linson, late of Grave Creek, and a niece of Mrs. Williams. Mr. Jolin 
A. Kinnard, with his young wife, moved to Wood county in 1807, aiul 
settled on this farm. Here they raised a family of six children, wlu^ 
attaiiied to man and womanhood, and who -are now all dead but one. 
Mrs. Mary (lardner. 

In January, 1827, he was commissioned a Justice of the Peace of 
the county, and served the county acceptably until his advanced age 
caused him to resign. In the discharge of public duties, he was 
thoughtful, considerate, and faithful. In private life he was highly 
esteemed for his uprightness of character and manly bearing. 

Having rnade a disposition of his property among his cliildren, he 
removed to Parkersburg, and for some time before his death, lie and 
his wife resided with their youngest daughter, Mrs, Gardner. He 
died at Parkcr>burg, on the 2d of May, 1850, in the 73d year of his 
age. His esteemed and venerable widow, Mrs. Mary Kinnard, sur- 
vived him until the Uith of March, 1873, when she died at Parkers- 
burg, at the residence of her daughter, at the age of 87 years. ' They 
lilled up the measure of tlieir years with usefulness to tliciiiselves 
and society, and died respected and beloved. 

We will give a brief notice of their children in the order of their 
births : 

First — Alfred Little Kinnard, who was born in the summer of 
1808. He graduated at Athens College, Ohjo ; studied law for his 
jirofession, and commenced practice in Parkersburg in the fall of 
18oo. But not liking it, he soon abandoned that profession, aiul com- 
menced merchandising in Ripley, Jackson county: but not meeting 
with success, he returned to this county, where he resick-d until his 
death. On the 3d of January, 1831), he was happily united in mar- 
riage with Mi.ss Julia A. Nixon, of J'arkersburg. No children were 
ijorn to them. He itied at Parkersburg, on the fith of Manh, 1872. 
aged 03 years, 10 months and 3 days. After a long and painful ill- 
ness from^cancer, she died at Parkersburg, on the 24th of June, 187^^. 
They were zealous and active members of the M. E. Church, South, 



;')4 JOHN A. KINNARD. 

Second — Louisa Kiiinanl, who married the late Hoti. Jolui F. Snod- 
;^rass. She died at Parkersbnrfc.oti the 22d day of October, 1843,aged 
■M years, 11 months and 22 days, leaviii<:^ four ehihlren. Mr. Snod- 
Ljrass was a' native ot Berkeley county. N'a., emiij^rated to l^arkersburg 
in 1830, and entered successfully upon the practice of the law; was 
elected and served in the Convention of Virginia in 1851-2, and was 
re-elected, and took his seat in Congress in 1853, and died at Park- 
ersburg, on the 5th ot Jane, 1854. 

Third — Rebecca Kinnard was united in marriage to Alexandar 
Miirdodi, of Washington, Pa.; died 23 of January, 1841, aged 27 years 
and 12 days. 

Fourth — Drusilla Kinnard died unmarried at the home residence 
i»f her parents, in Williamstown, the 21st day of August, 1841, aged 
25 years, 6 months and 15 (hiys. 

Fifth — Rev. Kufus Kinnard, a worthy local minister in the M. E. 
Church, was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Cook, eldest (hiuglitor 
of the late Tillingl)ast_AjjCook, died at WiTliamstown, the 24th day 
of March, 1871, aged 51 years, 6 months and 19 days.' He was a 
]>rominent, active and useful citizen, respected by all, filling up the 
measure of his years with usefulness. At his death he lett a widow 
with seven children, who reside at the homestead place, in Wiilliams- 
town. His widow lias been united in marriage with John A. Hen- 
derson, of that town. 

Sixth — Tlie youngestchild and daughter, Mary, was united in mar- 
riage to Wm. S. Gardner, on the 5th of November, 1844. He was a 
native of the State ot Pennsylvania, and settled in this couuty in '35, 
and was married to Miss Ann S. Beeson, the youngest daughter of the 
late Col. Jacob Beeson, (wlio occupied a promment position in the ear- 
ly history of this county.) He was engaged very cxtensivel}' in mer- 
chandising. He died the 31st day of October, 1849, aged 37 years, 4 
months and 14 days. His widow still resides in Parkersburg, and it 
was at her home that her venerable parents closed up the eventful 
{)eriods of tlieir lives. 

While penning the foregoing sketches of John A. Kinnard and his 
once interesting family, our mind has frequently turned back, and 
with mournful pleasure reviewed the days of other years, when these 
parents with their children,formed an uubrokcn,happy family around 
the domestic hearth of home, and we were permitted to share in their 
hospitality. Intelligence and refinement, blended with cheerfulness 
of heart, in kindred sympathies, made the hours pass smoothly and 
pleasantly^,and imparted to memory a rich legacy of remembrances, 
of jo}s and happiness. We can almost see again the watchful pride of 
parental love, as then bestowed upon those children of their future 
hopes. Now, all except one has passed in hope to the joys of that bet- 
ter, brighter, happier world. 

On the Souther!! banks of the Ohio, upon an elevated plateau of 



JOHN A. KINNARD. . 55 

land; fronting Mariett;i. and witliin the original boundaries of this plant- 
ation, is situated the pleasant village of Wiljiamstown. Several years ago 
it was made an incorporated town by an Act of the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia, and contains a population of about five hundred inhabitants. A 
turnpike extends back through this county from this town over fine ara- 
ble lands, and intersects the Northwestern Turnpike, fifteen miles East 
of Parkersburg. Above and below the town, the bottom lands on the 
Ohio are wide and of the best quality, giving not only fine views of the 
Ohio Valley, but also of the Muskin^jjum. The railroads terminatinij at 
Marietta add greatly to the lan(le<l estate of this portion of the county. — 
A charter was obtained from the Legislature of Virginia for a railroad 
from this town to intersect the Northwestern Virginia Railroad at the 
town of Kllenl)oro, thirty-seven miles East of Parkersburg, but failed in 
being made for want of capital. ^ 



ch:a.:ptei^ ix. 



Bellevills in 1795, 



fn Chapter Seven, we presented to the reader an account of the first 
r^ettlement made at J3elleville, in the lower part of this county, in 1785, 
and followed its history down to 1795, the date of the close of the Indi- 
an war in the then Northwestern Territory, and the treaty of peace re- 
sulting from the victories of General Anthony Wayne, made at Green- 
ville, Ohio. 

We made our sketch of that settlement in those years from 1785 to 
1795, as perfect and complete as the limited materials at our command 
would admit. The information was gathered from several sources, of a 
reliable character. As that settlement soon thereafter assumed a lead- 
ing position in this vicinity, we will continue the same from that year, 
(1795.) 

'J'he treaty of peace made with the Indians in the summer of 1795, at 
(xreeneville, Ohio, opened up a new chapter in the settlements on the 
Ohio and its numerous tributaries, arising from the comparative safety 
felt by the inhabitants then occupying the country, from fear of Indian 
raids and their cruel barbarities, so common in former years. 

It also iiwitcd new emigrants from among the; young and enterprising 
families of the South, East and North, to here select and open up homes, 
amidst the rich and fertile lands of this great valley. This desirable op- 
portunity was hailed and improved, and the tide of emigration became 
great as the country became more gonerally and perfectly known. Un- 
der these auspices, in this chapter we shall further trace the settlement 
made at ]ielleville and its vicinity. 

We have learned that Mr. David Lee, a hunter and trapper, some 
years prior to 1785, had encamped on Lee Oeek, forthe purpose of 
prosecuting that business, and consequently the creek took its name 



OtEORGE h. AVKRY. 57 

tVoni liiui. lie continued liis residence and occupation in tliat vicin- 
ity, and in one of those years he married a sister of Mr. Peter Ander- 
son, and iinally purchased land, and settle^! on Tvgart creek in this 
county, and raised a family of five sons and three daughters. The 
last ot his sons, of whom we have any knowledge, was Mr. Stephen 
Lee, who died some years since in this cour.ty. Several of the de- 
scendants ot Mr. David Lee reside in fhis county. He was a native of 
the IState of Pennsylvania,~ajid in early life had the reputation of he- 
ing one of the most successful hunters and trajjpers of his time. 

About the year 1796 or 1797, the settlement at Belleville received 
a most important addition hy emigrants from the State of Connecti- 
cut. The leading man of this emigration was Mr. George I). Avj.M"y. 
He commenced, and for several years carried on merchandizing in 
connection with ship-building, at that place. Man}' ships in those 
early years were built tliere, and descendcnl the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers to the Ocean. He was a man of fine educational attainments, a 
professed surveyor and civil engineer. Of some of his services in this 
capacity, we will hereafter speak. 

His wife had been tlie widow of Mr. Chamj)lin, of Connecticut, a 
lady well educated and ot tine culture. By him she was the mother 
of three sons, viz: Lodwick, Samuel and Guy Champlin. B}' Mr. 
Avery, she was the mother of one son, who was named after his fath- 
er. These orphan children of Mr. Champlin were under the guidance 
and supervision of Mr. Avery, wlio acted a generous part hy them. — 
The estate ol Mr. Champlin was invested in land for his children and 
heirs, by Mr. Avery, (mi the upper ])art of Belleville J^ottom, and is 
included in the lands now belonging to Mi'. Daniel R. Neal. 

After the tornmtion of Wood county, Mr. Avery was commissioned 
and ably tilled the othce of Justice of the Peace, taking a ]>rominent 
part in the reviewing and establishing i)f county roads, and looking 
after the general welfare of the county. 

Under the direction of William l\obin8on,Jr., and Dr. Joseph Spen- 
cer, (who were litiirating their titles to Pai'kersburg), on the 7th of 
December, 1810, Mr. Avery completed his survey of the town of Par- 
kersburg. tlu; streets df which are ma(h; to intersect eacli other at 
riglit angles, running from the Ohio river in a Southeasterly (hrection, 
and from the Little Kanawha northeasterly. The town then contained oSie 
hundred and seventy acres of land. The [tlot and survey as then made 
by Mr. Avery, was put upon record in the Clerk's Otlice ot the coun- 
ty at the February term, 181G, and will be found in Deed Book No. 
-■), page 337, and 838. Avery street, the fifth from the Ohio river, 
runs from the Little Kanawha river, at the East end of the old Fer- 
ry, formerly kept by Col. Otis L, Bradford, in a Northeasterly direc- 
tion, passes on the Northwest side of the passenger depot of the B. i\: 
0. Railroad, was named in honor of him. 

After doing a large and extensive business at Belleville, for manv 



58 Tin; i'ukntiss family 

years, lie finally failcl financially, and having ha-l the rai>sfortune to bury 
.'ii.s wife, he removed, and hia 9ubse(|uent history, as well a3 that of the 
<Miainplin fiiiiily, is unknown to tiic writer. It is thus that many of 
the early citizens of the county, who filled jMomineiit and responsible po- 
sitions, have been los*. sight of, and have passed away. 

Among the ^migrants to Belleville with Mr. Avery, was that of Mr. 
Prentiss and family. His wife was a sister to Mrs, Avery. He pur- 
chased and settled on a farm on the Ohio river, immediately above and 
adjoining Ijce Creek, iind also purchased other lands or lots in Bele- 
ville. Soon after settling; there he (iied, leaving a widow and two sons, 
Jonathan and Henry L. I'rentiss. 

Mr. Jonathan Prentiss inherited the farm on Lee creek. Attersorae 
years, he emigrated and settled in Monongalia county, and finally sold 
rhe farm to Caleb Wells, and it now belongs to his heirs. Henry L. 
Prentiss married Miss Hebecoa Mayberry, daughter of Mr. Geo. .Slay- 
berry, deceased, and sister of the late Hon. John P. Mayben-y, of Park- 
ersburg. He sold his land at Belleville, and purchase<l and settled in 
Parkersburg. For many years he filled jirominent positions in the 
county. On the 28tli of February, 1^2"2, he was commissioned a Jus- 
tice of the Peace, which otlice beheld until 1837, when he removed to 
the West, He was eh'cted and served this c )urity several times in the 
House of Delegates of Viri^irua. He finally settled in C^uincy, Illinois, 
where he died many years since. His eMest son, (.Jen. lienjaiuin .\1. 
Prentiss, resides in that city. Many of our old citizens will remember 
Henry L. Prentiss, and the quaiiitness of his address, ami the burlesq- 
ueness of his manners. 

[n the year 1797, two brothers with their families, by the name of 
-John and Michael Simms, came, purchased and settled on the South 
Fork of Lee Creek, about a mile and a half back of Belleville. Here 
they opened fine farms, and resided until 1816, when they sold to Elisha 
Timms and Benjamin Mitchell, who, in the fall of that year emigrate<l to 
this county, from (Culpepper county, Va. The two Simms families em- 
igrated to Ohio, and settled on Shad<' river Under the ministry of the 
Rev. Benjamin Crouch, .Mr. .Mitchell j)ined the M. E. Church, aud soon 
after was licensed as a local minister in the church, and olHciatedas such 
successfully, until his death, in 1884. He was abundant in labors and 
uilefulness. At the time of his death lie left a large family of children. 
These were raised and educated for asel'ulness in society^ and several of 
them still reside in this county. 

Among them is our active and worthy City Sargeant, John W. Mitch- 
ell and Henry S. Mitchell, a merchant at Beiloville. 'The Rev. Elish.i 
T. Mitchell, some yeir^ sirmj reinovivl to Huntington, in Cabell county, 
where he is enira^ed in raerchaiidisini;. The eldest son. James W, 
Mitchell, for many years past has resided at Ashland, Ky.'^ I hese four 
sons of Rev. Benjamjn Mitchell all have large families, and occupy prom- 
inent positions in tlie communities in which they reside. 



PHILIP WIOAL, SR. ;')9 

In the year 1707, Peter Derenberger, (a Gertuan), emigrated with hi^ 
family from the State of Pennsylvania, anfl settled on Lee ereeU, baek 
baek of Belleville Bottom. He was a worthy, industrious citizen, raised 
a large family. Many of his numerous descendants are living in this 
county, and are respected for their uprightness of character. 

Also, (luring the same Spring, (1797), .John Boso, with his family, 
came to this county, and settled on the South Fork of Lee Creek. There 
are numerous doscen(hints of this family, residing in the lower part pf 
this county, respected for their integrity and uprightness of character. 

In the year 1787 Jacob Kiems settled thei'e and married a sister of 
'Joseph Dewey. Some of the descendants of this family are still resid- 
ing in that vicinity. We are conscious that in our ettbrts to gather up 
the names of these first settlers in that portion of our county, the names 
of many will be omitted for the warit of information. 

It is to be regretted that during the first years of the settlements made 
in this county, that there was found no person to keep a record of those 
times and the events then passins:. Sucli a'liistory would be highly ap- 
preciated by the inhabitants of the county at the present day. 

Among the early pioneers of this county, there were few, if any, who 
have left among us a larger, better, and more industrious posterity than 
Mr. Philip IVigal. lie, with his wife and seven small children, emi- 
grated from U estmoreland county. Pa., early in the Spring of 1799,and 
settled at the mouth of Lee Creek, some three miles from the Ohio riv- 
er, where he opened up a farm and surrounded himselt with the comforts 
of a home, raised his family, to which Jour more children were added, 
and there ended his earthly pilgrimage in 1817. His children received 
such an education as the country and times furnished. They were 
taught to be industrious, persevering and self-reliant, thus making them 
thoughtful and considerate. 

His eldest daughter, Margaret, was married to Hichard Fortner, of 
this county. They raised a large family ol children, many of who mare 
still residents of this county. 

The son, Jacob Wigal, was united in marriage to a Miss Quigler, and 
removed to Indiana. Also, the .-ocond (hiutrhter, Hlizabeth, was united 
in marriage to Peter Sheets, and moveci to and settled in Indiana. 

His third so[j, Vrilliam Wigal. remained at the horaestea(i place, on 
the farm on Lee Creek. He is now eighty three years of age. aud is one 
of the few who has chosen to spend a life of single blessedness. 

Cathoriiii'. the tliird daughter, was married to Henry Brockheart, and 
moved from this county. She was tlu' mother of seven children, and was 
buried at Hoekingport, Ohio. 

His fourth son, George Wigal, (an infant three months old when 
bis parents came to this county), settled on the North Fork of Lee 
<>eek. His first wife was Miss Rebecca Sams, who, at her death, left 
him with one child. His second wife was Miss Sarah Gill, who has giv- 



60 georgl; wui al. 

en to hitu eight chiMren. These cliiMren are ;ill settled near him, with 
their families, an<l are in good easy circumstances. George Wigal ig 
now in the eightieth year of his age, and has continued to reside in this 
county. During his past life he has witnessed the great and wonderful 
changes which have taken place in this country in the present century. 
He is a man well read in the history of his country, and has a vast fund 
of useful information relative to the many changes and improvements 
made in his timp. Patient industry, frugality and economy, has enabled 
him to provide homes and settle his children around him, and in their 
prosperity and happiness he is enjoying the blessings of a happy old age. 

The fifth son of Philip Wigal, is Daniel Wigal, born at Belleville. He 
married Matilda Joseph, daughter of Joseph Joseph, late of this countv. 
They have eight children. He resides on Lee Creek. 

Barbara Wigal. the fourth daughter, was married to James Sams, of 
Tvgart Creek, and has three children. He died about twenty years ago. 

Philip Wigal, Jr.. the sixth son, married Miss Nancy Sheets. They 
have thirteen children, all reading in the lower part of this county. 

Miss Sarah Wigal, the youngest child and fifth daughter, married John 
Congrove. and moved to and lives in the State of Oliio. 

It would form an interesting chapter to trace the families ot each of 
the descendants of Philip Wigal. Sr., deceased. This would require much 
patient toil, as well as expense. 

In closing this brief sketch of the elder Philip Wigal and his family, 
and numerous descendants in this county, it is a remarkable occurrence 
that all of his descendants are in comfortable and easy circcmstances. 
and are honored and respected by their fellow citizens. Honesty, indus- 
try and economy are their prevailing characteristics. 

This brings our notice of Belleville down to the year ISOO, the tlate of 
the formation of Wood countv. 



oi3:^:pa?Ei^ x:. 



Peter Q» VanWinkls. 



The first recognition of any mnierial importance which Parkersburj: 
and Wood county received from the State Legishiture of Ohl Virginia in 
the way of improvement, and bringing them into public notice, was thf 
establishment and completion of the Northwestern Virginia Turnpike 
road, leading from Winchester, in the Valley of Virginia, over the Alle- 
gheny mountains, westward to Parkersburg. on the r)hio river, u dis- 
tance of two hundred and thirty miles. At that time, (183(5), Parkers- 
burg was a small town of about two hundred inhabitants, pleasantly sit- 
uatetl on the Southern bank of the Ohio river, at and above its junction 
with the Little Kanawha river, a stream of considerable importance, 
lieading in the Allegheny mountains, and running in a northwestern di- 
rection about one hundred and fifty miles. The country extending from 
the Ohio, eastwardly to the Allegheny mountains, was a vast wilderness, 
with a few towns and settlements interspersed here and there, of long 
standing. Its vast, heavy timbered forests, majestic mountnin ranges, 
of arable lands, rich, fertile valleys, abounding in numerous streams, 
with its salubrious climate, and grand scenery, werethe common heritage 
of wild beasts, pursued by and became the sport of hunters. Such was 
the brief outline of Western Virginia, when tliis NorthwestiMii Turnpike 
was projected and completed. 

It was about this time in the history of Parkersburg and Wood coun- 
ty, that Mr. Peter G. VanWinkle came, and completed his law studies 
in the otHce of the late Gen. John .1. Jackson, and after carefully sur- 
veying the relative position of Parkersburg in its connection with the 
seaboard cities of the East, and the unfolding cities of the great inland 
West, he determined on making it his future permanent home. This 
ijuestion of his citizenship being thus permanently settled, he untiringly 



<>2 HON. PETER G. VANWINKLE. 

• levotetl liis mind and cnerifies to the work of develo})ino; tlie resour- 
ces and advantages of Western Virginia. In this employment his pen 
was never idle, wlien an opportnnity ot" advancing the conimon in- 
terests presented itself. lie lived long enough to personally realize 
many of the hright day dreams of his imagination. He lived long 
enough to not only command the })ersonal esteem and liomageofthe 
citizens of his adopted cc^unty and home, hut vt' the citizens of our 
common country. 

The standard of a pure morality had in him a hright living eX[»o- 
nent, and was exemplified in tlie pri^-afe walks ot life, in the counsel 
chamher.^ of the State, and in tlie Senatorial Halls of Congfress. •. We 
have here introduced this chai)ter on the life and character of onr 
personal friend, to give the reader some cc^rrect knowledge of the 
past, as well as the present condition of this county in its advanced 
history. ' 

We will here say, that the city ot Parkershurg is situated at the 
lower, or southern extremity ot a high and wide hottom of land, ex- 
tending down the Valiey of the Ohio, from Briscoe's Run to the Lit- 
tle Kanawha river, a distance of six miles, and contains an area of 
about five tliousand acres. Two miles South of Parkershurg, Worth- 
ington Creek enters the Little Kanawha from the East. The hottoms 
of this river and creek, in the vicinity P]astand South of Parkershurg, 
contain an area of about five thousand acres, well adapted to city im- 
provements. An elevated ridge separates these lands, and presents 

• ■ommanding views as sites for suburban residences. 

We close tliis chapter, devoted to our friend, the Hon. Peter G. 
Van Winkle, by inserting a biographical sketch of him, which we pre- 
l)eared and })ublished in the Odd Fellows Guardian, of Chicago, III., 
ot which Order he was an honorable and worthv membei* : 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

"Tlie iiiernon' of the just is blessed." — Solomon 

In this dark world of sin and sutiering, there are oasis springing i))i 
in the desert ot man's mortality. Among these, the memory, linger.'^ 
and delightH to dwell, as the warm affections of the heart cluster 
around them, whis|)ei'ing through all its silent cluunbers, of a better 
world, brighter home and purer life, it is thus, amid the impress- 
ive emblems, dressiMJ in the haliilaments of mouining, wcareniadeto 
look back upon the life and character of our worthy Brother, the late 
Hon. Peter Godwin Van Winkle, who departed this life on the morn- 
ing of the 15th of April, 1872, aged 63 years, 7 months and 8 day.s. 

On the paternal, as also on the maternal (Godwin) sides of his pa- 
rentage, his family records went l)ack to the early settlement of the 
colonies of this countr\ . Me was the third son of Mr. Peter Van Win- 



HON. PETER C. VANWINKLE. 63 

klo iiiul his wito, Mrs. Pliebo Godwin, born in the city of Now York, 
tilt' 7tli of Soptoniltcr, 1808. Being endowed by nature with stiidiou.< 
habits and an enquirin<3: mind, ho in early life laid the basis ot a good 
etlucation: and in all his after years, by his un\vearie<l diligence and 
close apidication, he studied to improve, until he became a ripe schol- 
ar, a correct thinker and an able writer, with a wide sweep of practic- 
al knowledge. liis love ot letters was so great, that in all the active 
duties and claims of life, and the laborious studies of the law, (his pi'O- 
fession), he found time to improve his talents in the higher walks of 
literature, and his mannscripts grace the pages of many literary jour- 
nals of the day. 

On the 21st of September, 1831, at Paramus, Bergen (^luiity, New 

• fcrscy, he was most hap[)ily united in marriage with Miss Juliet Kath- 
lionc, daughter of the late Judge W. P. Rathl>one, a lady of finished 
accomplishments and refined manners, . social in intercourse, with a 
most amiable disposition and warmth of affection. By her he became 
the father of six children; three of whom died early in infancy. His 
fiMirth, the late Hon. Ratlibone Van Winkle, died at liis residence in 
this city, in 1^70, thus leaving at the time of nis death his youngest 
son, Godwin, and his youngest daughter, Mrs Blackford, to mourn 
his loss. His loving and accomplished wife, after a long and painful 
illness, died in 1844. 

Mr. VanWinkle came to this cit} early in the year 1835, andcom- 
jiletcd his study of law in the otiice of the late Gen, John J. Jackson, 
and was admitted to practice in our Courts. At that time this coun- 
try was comparatively new, and Parkersburg was a small town, sur- 
roun<led by woods, with a vast undeveloped country, stretching away 
to the East and Sf)ut]i against tlie Allegheny mountains. Yet from 
its relative position, geograiihically, lying in direct line between the 
sea-board cities and the far off, and outspreading West, became totiie 
conclusion tiiat it Inid a britrht futiHv, and determined to make it hi< 
future home. He tormed a co-partnersliip in the practice of law 
with Gen. J. J. Jackson, and gave the energies ot his miinl in leisun* 
hours to the develo[iment and growth of this place and the sursound- 
ing country. X)iir cotmt} papers, both editorially and otherwise, 
teemed with articles from his able pen,. setting forth its local and com- 
mercial ailvantages. These weekly contributions in our [lapers un- 
folded to the en(puiring mind the vast, rich resources of wealth, hid- 

• len in our mountains and valleys, the'music; of its water power pass- 
ing through the unbroken solitudes (jf one of the most salul)rious cli- 
uuites on c.irth, inviting the enterprise of the cajiitalist ;ind tlu' strong 
eni'rgy of the woodsman's a.v. 

The puldie spirit and enterprise of his mind, thus seen in and thro 
these articles from his pen, allied him with the council of ourgrow- 
ing town, and made him President of its Board. This relation he 
stistained for many years; and, itideed, until a wider sphere of use- 



•i4 HON. PETER G. VA.NWINKLB. 

niliiess t)[>oiit-'il out bt-'toro liiin to till. Wliercvc-r and wlieDever enter- 
prise, public or privjiti.', lookc*! to the advancement of onr town or 
i.Mjunt;', it at ail times found in liim a triond and advocate; and lie be- 
came an able co-wcrker iti securing its advantages to our city. He 
was for the tirst seven years President of the Little Kanawha Bridge 
Comi^any; also Secretary for several years of the Nortliwestern Va. 
Kai!r(jad Company, and then its President; and then President ot the 
Parkersbui-g Brand) Railway Company. To the faithful j»erfurmance 
i>t the duties of all these offices, lie brought his untiring energies, and 
discharged the same with entire satisfaction to all interested in 
them. 

In 1850 fie was elected and served with distinguished honor and 
ability in the State Convention of Virginia, for revising the Constitu- 
tion. His labors upon committees were arduous ; yet he found tinu 
to assist our representative, and contributed largely in setuiring the 
[tassage of the Act incorporating our I-Jailroad. lie w^s a [irominent 
and working meaiher of the VVheeling ('onvention of 1861 ; also of 
the Convention of 1862, wliich formed tlie Constitution of West Va.: 
and was a member of the Legislature of this State, from its organiza- 
tion to June, 1863. In August of that year he was elected a Senator 
in Congress from this State, for the term ending 4tli of Marcli, 1869. 
fn all tliese responsible and high positions ot trust, as a statesman, he 
fulfilled the arduous duties with marked al)ility, coascientious exact- 
ness and unwavering devotion to the best interests of his country. — 
The same conscientious regard for truth and justice, which markctl 
all tfie acts of his private life, he brought into the political 
arena of his public life, as his guiile in the performance of duty. 

No base or private prejudices, or unholy passions ever marked or 
)narred his career in all his intercourse with his associates in public 
and private life. During the late unhappy war, when the passions of 
many ran riot with tlie spirit of revenge, there was no individual case 
where the finger of anger or resentment couM lie pointed at liini 
as being unjust and unmerciful. J lis nature rose above the an- 
gry passions of vindictive hate, <jr the malignant policy and purpose 
of carping demagogues. His carefully foiMued and n-ell balanced mind, 
resting upon the golden rule of right and justice, at all times felt its 
resi>onsibility. and never swerved from a conscientious purpose of 
moral rectitude. 

It is witli the greatest pleasure we can look over and view the life 
and character of our honored friend, as a citizen in [»rivate life, and as 
an officer in his public career, giving, (as he has nobly done), to tin- 
world a bright example of a life <^f unwavering effort, which lias cul- 
minated in an honored and honorable repose, liut in closing this 
sketch to his memory and virtues, we teel and mourn the loss of a 
Brother Odd Fellow, wliose voice once cheered u< in our counsels, and 



HON. PETER O. VANWINKLE. ' 65 

vhosc life and character was a living exposition of the holy ritual of our 
beloved Onlcr. Teter (Godwin VanWinUle w:i8 the Senior I'ast Grand ot 
rarkersinir^ Lo<lge, No. 7. I. O. (). F., and no member in life and char- 
:.cter ever retiecteil more honor upon that office, or gave brighter evi- 
<lence8 to tlie claims of Odd-Fellowship. For years past he made dona- 
tions annually of fifty ilollari*, for the benefit of widows and orphans of 
the Lod^e, thu;^ causing the l)Iessings of the bereaved to light up the 
pathway along life's closing journey. But he has passed from the. liv- 
ing of earth, full of years and full of honors, "to the rest of the Patri- 
archs/' 

It is at such a moment we realize the gathering darkness of the tomb 
over the days of our mortality — we realize the loosening of the silver 
cord — the breaking of the golden bowl — the dropping ot" the pitcher at 
the fountain — the wrecking of tho wheel at the cistern, for man goeth to 
his long home. Our friend and brother "has passed the years of his 
appointed time," "the days of the years of his pilgrimage arc numbered." 
With "the evergreen as an emblem of immortality," his remains were 
committed to the silenee of the grave, "for the memory of the righteous 
shall be in remembrance forever and ever." 



To the;' Readers : — 

This iHst Chapter of the foregoing, is that rnucdi addeil to the origjna! 
design when we commenced these pages. They are presente*! as a trib- 
ute to the memoiy of a personal frien<l, whose manhood years were 
spent among the citizens of this community — one whose pen added 
largely to the material wealth »nd position of the county and State. 

Shouhl these pages be appreciated by my feUow citixens, so as to be- 
come partially remunerative for the time, toil and expense in their prep- 
aration, they will be followed by a continuation of the history of the 
county, with its first settlers and their descendants, with descriptions of 
hinds and sources of wealth. 

The city of Parkersburg, with its various changes of names, etc., will 
form the opening Chapter of this continue 1 work. 

S. C. SHAW. 



Leafy Glenn, West Virginia, 
November, 1878. 



} 



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1879. Announcement Twelfth Volume. 1879 

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>VII)5;AWAKKfor IS79! 

AiiIlliistraMMaEaz'iieforttieYo;il. 

ELLA FAIt.ll.4.\, Editor. 

Tlnee Jollv Sciials. 

1 -THE doghf:kky iniNCH. 

The Story of Seven Merry C^iiiMreii. By 

Hartwell ('ATHEIlWOOn. 
II— ROYAL l.OWHIES L\ST WINTER 

XV ST. t>LAVES. 
A Stor3' of School-lioy Life. By Macnhk 

MeUUINVKA lUER 

HI -DON' QIIIX.0 IE. .Ik. 

A Enmiy Serial for the Liltle Boys of 

America. By John Bkow.n.tohn. 

IV— OUR AMERICAN ARITSIS. 

Fir.st Series. With Foitrait>-. Studio Inie- 

iiors. luiil Eiigruviiif{s of pHintiiig. 

By S. G. W. IJriNJAMiN. 

V-SOME NOVEL SCHOOLS. 

Comprising many importimt Eilncationiil 

Experiments, l>oth in .\Mieneii 

and Europe. 

Funny Donblf Ptige UluKtrtitfil Poems. 

1 THE MINCE PIE PniNCC. 

Bright Short StorieM. 

Putnruil Ponnx. 

Sketrhes nf Trnci-l. 

Mm\ History Siiplcinciits. 

Puzzhx, (iiiiiit'.t for CliHilnii, Mi/nir, d'C. 

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BABYLA\I», f(ir IS7» 

WILL HE 

Prettier and Funnier tluiD ever. 

SJX Little TWO-CHAPTER STORIES, 

Eaoh with lots of wt!e, wi'e I'icttiies I 

JuBt such StorieH hh uiotbers like to read. 

and little folks like to ht-ar. 

SI.V-.T I'll Tl WKS f..r Knbv to Ilr.iw. 

•IlMil.KS to lliiiriii Hiibv'- K,ir. 

HM I'll TlKKs lo i.n^o FJiihyV K.\p. 

Funny .storic"* toniiiki- «Ht)\ I aii^rli. 

Priiitfd on tliirk, otrmL' ptipir. B.\HVt..\NI) in 
just wluityoii ncul to put in K.MJY'S hand when 
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.VltKNTs a ye»k, frrt'ol I'oHtn e 
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I'. I.OTIII: t 1- A CO . 1 I iii.i.-iir.i.-. I?o r . ,. 



FOR 1879. 
Edited by W. D. IIOWELLS, 

Author of ",-l Chance Arquaintanee," 
' • Their Wedding Journey, " •' Ve- 
netian, Life" etc., etc. 



The Atlantic Monthly ains to give 
it-i reailiTs the liest Mag i/.mi^ liier^itnre in 
the worl 1; the con'nldi ions < f the lievt 
writers of Pot-try, Novels, Sliort Stories, 
Criticism, and on Politics. So ial Science, 
Education, Art. Indnsrry. and nil suhject.s 
that most interest the American pnlilic. - 
Its progritnme for isT'.l includes. 
SEUIAL STORIKS l,v T. B. Aldrich, 
Mi-^s E W. Olney. Bjorstjern Bjokn- 
sEN (the emiui'iit Norwegian author). W. 
I). HowtLL.s, and a writer who coi.trib- 
nies "'Irene, the Missionary." a story of 
Americans in Syria. 
SHORT STORIES l.y Harriet Beeci^er 
Stowe, CoNsrANCE Fennimore Woolson. 
Sarah O.JKWETT.aiithor of Deephaven,' 
Ro^E Terry (.'ooke. and ot' ers. 
SOCIAL. POLITICAL, and ECONOMIC- 
AL AR rlCLES. by the author of "Cer- 
taiii Dangerous Tendencies in American 
Life," Hon. J. Watts Kearney, A. G. 
Sedgwick, and other-!. 
TRAVELS AND DESCHlPTIONl.y ('has. 
Eliot Norton. Hknry .Jami:s, Jr..W. H. 
Bishop, and Col. (teoroe K. Warin<j, Jr. 
POETRY AND ESSAYS l.y H W. Lono- 
FFLLOW, J. G. Whittikr, Dr. Holmes. 
RiiHAitn Grant Whiti.. E. C. Stedman, 
R. H. Stoddard, H. E Scudder. Mark 
Twain, (Charles Di'dlev Warner. Miss 
H. W. Preston. H. H.. Mrs. Piatt, and 
other well knoAii writers. 

PORTRAIT OF LOWELL.— A tine large 
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of Longfellow, Bryant, and Whitiier.has 
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tier Bryant, or fionu;fellow. .{'."i.tMi ; with 
two porlriiil>, •*<).<•": wiih three portraits, 
•fr.tMi : with all four portraits, t**."". 

Hcml't iniiv-fno'i il Ih- nm'li- by ni ne. onler.dralt 
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Houghton. Osgood *. Company. 

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